Table of Contents
Fiji will be at the crossroads again in 2009. In a span of 10 years, since the first election under the 1997 constitution was contested in 1999, the country will have had four elections. The 1997 constitution – which ordains the alternative vote (AV) system, the use of a mix of open and communal seats, and the multiparty cabinet concept – had been expected to encourage moderation and accommodation, resulting in a more representative and multi-ethnic cabinet. This, sadly, has not happened. On the contrary, the racial groups have become more polarized, and political parties have played the race card to the maximum. The fact that we have had two coups in the past ten years also clearly shows that things have not worked out in the manner anticipated by the architects of the 1997 constitution.
The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) conducted an ‘Elections Watch’ workshop after the 1999, 2001 and 2006 elections. This chapter examines the findings and recommendations made at those workshops.