TONGA: Questions over Fiji election commitment
Updated
As the Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga starts to wind down, there appears to be a big difference between what Fiji says it has promised in relation elections in 2009, and what the Leaders say was promised. It comes down to what Fijians will be voting for.
Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Speakers: Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Fiji Interim Prime Minister; Helen Clark, NZ Prime Minister
COONEY: If there's one person most of the media have been wanting to talk to, it's Fiji's Coup Leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
On Wednesday at their retreat the Commodore gave a firm commitment to leaders his country would hold elections in March 2009, not just give in principle support to a proposal to do so.
The Forum has heralded this as a major breakthrough.
But what did the Commodore have to say on this, and other issues for himself.
The ever present Tongan security cordon around all members of the media meant none us were going to get close enough to him to ask.
But on the final day of proceedings as he left the convention centre in Nuku'alofa, he approached the media, offering himself.
The security guards weren't happy, but we were.
The first topic was his election commitment.
And according to him, it's nothing new.
BAINIMARAMA: You know that's old news. The commitment's been there, people have been leading you all in the wrong direction.
JOURNO: So are you allowing the members of the Qarase government to ...
BAINIMARAMA: That is also in the commitment we had yesterday and that has always been there.
JOURNO: A couple of weeks ago you were making some comments about this ....
BAINIMARAMA: And those comments were ...
JOURNO: Basically that you didn't think they should be allowed to stand, that's the way it was reported?
BAINIMARAMA: I think those reports are wrong.
JOURNO: ... at the United Nations reported ....one vote. Do you think ... the election?
BAINIMARAMA: We have discussed that yes.
JOURNO: That you would like to change the constitution?
BAINIMARAMA: We have discussed that yes.
JOURNO: How can you change the constitution without a vote in parliament?
JOURNO: How about a referendum?
BAINIMARAMA: Does that work for you?
JOURNO: Well is that in your constitution that you can hold referendums?
BAINIMARAMA: We haven't decided yet when it's going to be done, but we know we must have one man one vote, so how we get to that is ...
JOURNO: The impression we got yesterday was that the leaders of the forum thought there wasn't time to change the constitution and ... election
BAINIMARAMA: Insufficient time to change the constitution? What the whole constitution, or one of the sections of the constitution, and not the whole thing. It was the Australian and the ... so get your facts right.
COONEY: It was a polished performance by Commodore Bainimarama, who in some ways has been the star of this year's meeting, for the people of Tonga.
He was the only leader cheered by the crowd on arriving at Tuesday's opening. And around the capital and on the island of Vava'u there are plenty of posters in shops, outside homes, and even strung across the road, praising him as a Fijian Warrior.
The media, starved of the chance to approach most of the leaders, were making the most of having him within microphone range.
BAINIMARAMA: I don't know why you people getting all these lies about roadmap, and people keep telling me we want to see concrete path, we've done all we, that needs to be done to prepare us for election.
COONEY: But much of what the Commodore was saying about changes to electoral law seemed to differ greatly from what the Forum had put forward on Wednesday.
One of the leaders strongly welcoming that commitment was New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Just after Commodore Bainimarama's appearance, she fronted the media scrum to announce five million dollars to help rebuild Tonga.
But she had this to say in response to the Commodore's commentsi.
CLARK: The forum's pretty clear that the process forward in Fiji has to be credible and that rules out any shonky changes to the constitution. Fiji has a constitution that the Commodore by his own admission says that constitution's still in force, therefore it's very important that the pathway forward is in line with the constitution and laws of Fiji. We haven't seen anything around his proposal for a people's charter as helpful to the roadmap, we think it's a diversion.
