Fiji's interim government's new election criteria not consitutional
Updated
Fiji's deposed prime minister Laisenia Qarase says the interim government should abide by the 1997 consitution for the March 2009 general elections. His comments follow the announcement that the interim government says there are certain criteria which each party and candidate must meet before they can be allowed to contest an election. Mr Qarase and Commodore Bainimara met last week to discuss a number of topics the elections among them.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Deposed Fiji prime minister Laisenia Qarase
QARASE: We don't know what the criteria would be, there are no details disclosed as yet, but as far as I'm concerned the criteria set out quite clearly in our 1997 constitution, which is still in place so, I am puzzled by the announcement by the interim prime minister. I don't know how he's going to do it other than abrogating the constitution.
COUTTS: It says, the 1997 constitution states that a person is not qualified to contest an election if the person has an interest in or an agreement or contract entered into with the government or a government authority. So that pretty well excludes most of the interim government?
QARASE: I suppose it would yeah, that can stop quite a number of people from contesting parliament.
COUTTS: What about the SDL party because the Commodore Bainimarama, the interim prime minister said that no member of the SDL party will contest the elections. Do you get that feeling?
QARASE: He has made that announcement. It is not first time, he has done it before and he repeats it again. I don't know how he's going to do it, if that would be the criteria then I am sure most of the people who'd like to stand for the SDL party would not have contractual interests in any government activities and so on. So that particular criteria won't apply to them, but it would be interesting to know whether there are other criteria.
COUTTS: It's also been said that if there is such a criteria that no one seems to know much about that it might disqualify or exclude 80 per cent of Fiji's population that they won't be allowed to vote freely if the SDL is barred from contesting the next general elections?
QARASE: That's an important point, if criteria established particularly to exclude political parties or certain individuals from contesting the election then the fairness of the election would come into question and that's a very important issue when it comes to general election.
COUTTS: So what do you think is behind this? I mean they're talking about democratic and free and fair elections but there seems to be a lot of criteria that will exclude a lot of people from contesting the elections?
QARASE: Yeah if they insist on this criteria then obviously it won't be a free and fair election, depending on the criteria would be. Political parties will have to consider very carefully whether they want to contest the election because it won't be fair.
COUTTS: Now you Sir finally had a face to face meeting with Commodore Bainimarama, it's been a long time in the coming. What did you discuss and were you able to discuss any of these issues?
QARASE: Well he has already mentioned what we discussed. I had kept it to myself, I did not want to disclose any details at this time. I was waiting for the next round to see whether we make any progress. But he has announced publicly that we discussed the charter and the election and he has stated that he told me no charter no election, and that's exactly what he told me at that meeting. But it will depend on the next round of discussion. By putting that pre-condition it puts him in an awkward situation if he's willing to talk and negotiate I would have thought that in this type of dialogue both him and I would come in with a clean sheet and no pre-conditions and so on. But he has said publicly about no charter no election.
COUTTS: So when is this second round to take place of discussions between yourself and Commodore Bainimarama?
QARASE: Yeah we had a meeting more than a week ago and we had agreed to meet again in about two weeks. So the confirmation of the actual date should be coming fairly soon. If they keep to that then of course we should be meeting some time next week.
COUTTS: So why do you think that he came in with a pre-condition that no charter no elections essentially. I mean why are they so desperate to get that through?
QARASE: Well he's trying to force down the throats of the people of Fiji this charter. It is opposed by the overwhelming majority of the people of this country. The indigenous population which comprised 58 per cent of the total population have virtually rejected it, almost 100 per cent of them. And I know the other two political parties; the National Federation Party and the United Peoples Party who represent probably 30 per cent of the population have also expressed their opposition to the charter. He is really trying to force people to agree to whatever he says.
COUTTS: And because it will give them immunity or amnesty?
QARASE: Well that's an interesting issue. The promulgation by the President is in place, that was one of the first things that they did to issue this promulgation giving immunity to the coup perpetrators. What else the charter can do on that issue is a mystery at this point. All I know is that promulgation has no legal effect because immunity can only be given by the parliament as far as I know.
