Constitution Monitoring Report: September 2013-September 2014
Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (ed). Fiji in Transition: Towards a Sustainable Constitutional Democracy, Citizens’ Constitutional Forum, Suva, pp. 105-146.
51 Pages Posted: 8 Apr 2017 Last revised: 17 Apr 2017
Date Written: October 1, 2014
Abstract
The Constitution Monitoring Report, which attempts to document the key events in the implementation of the 2013 Constitution over the year between its promulgation in September 2013 and the September 2014 elections. According to international and comparative best practice, an environment most conducive to democratization is achieved in a transition where the military-backed government hands over to a caretaker government for a reasonable period before elections are held. This helps to make sure that the incumbent military-backed government does not gain an unfair advantage over any opponents, given their power to arbitrarily control events in the lead up to elections. Given that no such provisions were put in place for Fiji’s transition, it was important to monitor and document the implementation of the transitional requirements of the 2013 Constitution itself. The Monitoring Report outlines these events and reviews the implementation status of the 2013 Constitution, the challenges that implementation has faced so far and the prospects for timely and comprehensive implementation in the future.
Keywords: constitution-making, public participation, transition, democratic transition, Fiji, politics, military
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