Fiji PM's secretary supports election moves
Updated
A senior official in Fiji's military-led regime has given his support to the government's refusal to guarantee elections next year.
The permanent secretary in the prime minister's office, Parmesh Chand, was responding to comments by interim prime minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama at last week's Melanesian summit in Vanuatu.
Our Fiji correspondent, Samisoni Pareti, reports Commodore Bainimarama told him next year's elections will only be held if critics like ousted leader Laisenia Qarase accepts his proposed people's charter.
He stressed the elections will have to be held under his terms, not those of Mr Qarase.
Holding elections without the people's charter according to Mr Bainimarama would make the coup of December 2006 meaningless.
Speaking on national television this week, Mr Bainimarama's secretary, Parmesh Chand, said politicians will have to determine the exact date of next year's elections.
It was Mr Bainimarama who had promised Pacific Islands Forum leaders in Tonga last October that Fiji will go to the polls by March next year.
