# BREAKING NEWS: BIMAN PRASAD HAS REVERSED HIS POSITION AND WILL VOTE FOR THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION

Posted on October 2, 2026 1 Comment

It was the former US President, Lyndon Johnson, who coined the celebrated line that “it is always better to have your colleagues inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in”.

And Biman Prasad seems to have embraced that notion – that instead of a showdown with his own rebellious colleagues in the NFP, it is now better to go along with them in voting for the new draft Constitution and try to make changes along the way than vote it down and lose all influence.

Let’s not pretend that he is doing so as a matter of high principle. As Grubsheet reported in our last article, the NFP leader started the day facing a full-blown rebellion from Pio Tikoduadua and Sashi Kiran, who told him they intended to defy him and vote for the new draft. And he couldn’t be certain that the remaining NFP member, Lenora Qereqeretabua, wouldn’t do the same.

He could have sacked them for disobeying his instruction to vote it down but that would have just left him isolated – the sole NFP MP continuing to insist that the process not be rushed. So in typical style, Biman has given in and is trying to spin his way out of his humiliation.

The word from the NFP camp is that he eventually decided it was better to try to influence events from within. And will use his membership of the parliamentary subcommittee that will examine the draft over the next 30 days and consider changes until the third reading and final vote.

Will he be able to influence the other parties to alter some of the more provocative clauses? We shall see. But he has averted a showdown that would have displayed his impotence to the entire world. And is trying instead to portray it as a strategic withdrawal aimed at making a difference. As I say, we shall see.

The vote is due later tonight. But the second reading of the draft constitution will now definitely be passed.

Comments

Makes sense says

October 2, 2026 at 7:43 pm

Yep, better to be in the mix than a footnote to history. He should push for a Senate that is a fair reflection of society as a whole and a selection process for President that considers candidates from all ethnic groups.

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Grubsheet Feejee is the blogsite of Graham Davis, an award-winning journalist turned communications consultant who was the Fijian Government’s principal communications advisor for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade.

Fiji-born to missionary parents and a dual Fijian-Australian national, Graham spent four decades in the international media before returning to Fiji to work full time in 2012. He reported from many parts of the world for the BBC, ABC, SBS, the Nine and Seven Networks and Sky News and wrote for a range of newspapers and magazines in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

Graham launched Grubsheet Feejee in 2011 and suspended writing for it after the Fijian election of 2014, by which time he was working at the heart of government. But the website continued to attract hits as a background resource on events in Fiji in the transition back to parliamentary democracy.

Grubsheet relaunches in 2020 at one of the most critical times in Fijian history, with the nation reeling from the Covid-19 crisis and Frank Bainimarama’s government shouldering the twin burdens of incumbency and economic disintegration.

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(Feejee is the original name for Fiji - a derivative of the indigenous Viti and the Tongan Fisi - and was widely used until the late 19th century)

Grubsheet Feejee is the blogsite of Graham Davis, a dual Fijian-Australian national working as a media and communications specialist in both countries and in other parts of the Asia Pacific.

Graham has had a four decade-long career in the mainstream media in Britain, Australia and Fiji. He has reported for the BBC, ABC, SBS and the Nine and Seven Networks and has written for a range of newspapers and magazines in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. His multiple awards include Walkley and Logie Awards in Australia and a New York Festivals Medal in the United States.

More recently, Graham has been a consultant to the GeoPolitical Solutions division of the global communications company, Qorvis-MSLGROUP, which represents a range of sovereign clients around the world. Part of his brief is to assist the Fijian Government with its program to introduce the first genuine democracy in the nation’s history in 2014.

Graham is broadly supportive of the Bainimarama Government's reform agenda but invites comments from people of all political persuasions. Please don't label your return volley "anonymous". Give yourself a name or pseudonym so that readers can track your progress over time.

Many of these postings have appeared in mainstream newspapers such as The Australian and the Fiji Sun – where Graham has been a columnist - and on other websites, including newmatilda.com and Pacific Scoop NZ.

Feejee is the original name for Fiji - a derivative of the indigenous Viti and the Tongan Fisi - and was widely used until the late 19th century.