Fiji - Country of Concern: latest updates, 30 June 2014
Updated 21 January 2015
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The last three months have seen further positive developments on democracy in the lead-up to Fiji’s general election on 17 September. However, freedom of expression and workers’ rights remain areas of concern.
Prime Minister Bainimarama announced that Australia, India, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia will jointly lead a Multinational Observation Group (MOG) that will observe Fiji’s general election. Several other countries, including the UK, have been invited to contribute observers to the mission. We are positively disposed to the offer, but our participation is dependent upon acceptable terms of reference, which are yet to be agreed. The EU declined to join the mission, its rules preventing participation in multilateral observer groups. Instead, the EU will rely on its own internal experts and the MOG’s evaluation to assess the credibility of the election.
In June, the Fiji Elections Office launched a nationwide voter education campaign. The main elements are: short instructional programmes for TV and radio; publication of a Voter Information Guide, distributed freely in one of the national newspapers; and public voter awareness sessions scheduled to take place around the country in the run-up to polling.
The Elections Office has drawn up guidelines for NGOs intending to run voter education initiatives. These specify that organisations must obtain written approval from the Elections Office to conduct any form of voter education and authorisation to use and distribute educational materials. They must also provide monthly reporting on any activities performed. Voter registration has continued and political parties have moved into campaign mode. The Prime Minister registered his own political party, bringing the total number that will contest the election to five.
Former Prime Minister and Fiji Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, was convicted by the High Court in May for breaches of the Exchange Control Act, dating back to 2001. Chaudhry was found guilty of banking USD 1.5 million outside of Fiji without the consent of the Reserve Bank of Fiji. He has been ordered to pay a fine of USD 1.1 million, or face a prison sentence of up to 15 months. Chaudhry becomes the second former Prime Minister and political party leader to be convicted of a financial crime, after Laisenia Qarase was imprisoned in 2012. As a consequence, both are technically barred from contesting the election.
The International Trades Union Congress Global Rights Index has ranked Fiji among “the worst countries in the world to work in”. Fiji is grouped with 23 other countries, where workers are judged to have poor access to rights and are exposed to unfair labour practices. Concerns about freedom of expression persist. Although reporting of the political process, from all angles, has increased, there is considerable media bias towards the government, while political parties have claimed their press releases often go unpublished.
In an interview with an Australian newspaper, Fiji’s military commander, Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga, said the military would respect the result of the election, but would not tolerate a newly elected government attempting to overturn the constitution.