(G) Electoral reform first, A-G tells Forum
Fiji Live. 27 Jan 2009

Fiji's interim Attorney-General has told Pacific leaders that Fiji will only hold elections when all of its political players agree on electoral reform. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told the special Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting in Papua New Guinea today that electoral reform has to come first before PIF demands of free and fair elections, TV New Zealand reports.

Fiji's membership of the PIF is one possible sanction up for discussion given Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama's broken promises on a timetable to restore democracy following his December 2006 coup. The 15 PIF leaders, including Australian and New Zealand prime ministers Kevin Rudd and John Key, will discuss what they see as the best measures to get Fiji back on the route to democracy.

Once an electoral system has been established through the reforms, the process for elections can be created within 12-15 months, Sayed-Khaiyum told reporters in Port Moresby. "As the PM (Bainimarama) has said, the holding of elections for the sake of holding elections is not going to achieve any proper outcome nor will it achieve any long term democratic stability in Fiji," TVNZ reported Sayed-Khaiyum saying.

"Once we have an agreement with all the political parties it does give us the moral and the legal ability to make the necessary amendments to that process (of elections). "Sixty-four percent of the Fijian people have endorsed the electoral reforms suggested."

Fiji has had four coups in the past two decades. "That's precisely the point, the reason why we've had these interruptions to democratic parliamentary governance has been that the system has not been working and that is a fundamental principle people seem to neglect," Sayed-Khaiyum said. "We are not a military regime ... we are a valid interim Government."

Sayed-Khaiyum was sent to the summit by Bainimarama who said he is needed at home to manage devastating floods that earlier this month killed at least 11 people.