Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime Minister someone who can control a majority of votes in the House of Representatives. In practice, this is normally the leader of the largest political party or coalition in the house. If there is no clear majority in the House of Representatives, however, the President's role becomes more important: he or she must assume the role of arbitrator and open negotiations with the leaders of the various political parties, in the hope of finding someone whom a majority will accept as Prime Minister. In the event of that failing to take place, the President must dissolve the House of Representatives and call an early election. In 1963, the first significant changes were carried out to the composition of the Legislative Council of Fiji since 1937. ... The general election to the Legislative Council of Fiji in 1966 was the last to be held before independence from the United Kingdom was granted in 1970. ... After the 1966 election, Fiji adopted a Ministerial type of Government with Ratu Kamisese Mara, of the Alliance Party, as Chief Minister and A.D. Patel, of the Federation Party, as Leader of the Opposition. ... The general election to the Fijian House of Representatives in 1972 was the first since independence from the United Kingdom had been achieved in 1970. ... Fijis election for the House of Representatives held in March 1977 was the second since independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. ... A general election to Fijis House of Representatives was held in September 1977, to resolve the impasse of an earlier election that had been held in March. ... Fijis fourth general election to the House of Representatives was held in 1982. ... The general election of April 1987 was Fijis fifth since the country had gained its independence from the United Kingdom seventeen years earlier. ... A general election was held to restore Fiji to democracy in 1992. ... Fiji held a general election in 1994, three years earlier than scheduled. ... The general election to the Fijian House of Representatives, held from 8 to 15 May 1999, was historic. ... The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a High Court decision on 15 November 2000, following the failure of the political upheaval in which the government had been deposed and the constitution suspended in May that year. ... The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. ... After the coup détat that began in early December 2006, elections were planned to be held hopefully in 12 months, two years by the new interim prime minister Jona Senilagakali. ... A Presidential election took place in Fiji on 18 July 2000, to replace Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who had resigned, possibly under pressure from the Military, during the Fiji coup of 2000. ... Elections to the offices of President and Vice-President of Fiji took place on 8 March 2006, when the Great Council of Chiefs met as an electoral college at the Tradewinds Convention Centre in Lami. ... Fiji maintains an independent, but generally pro-Western, foreign policy. ... Fiji maintains direct diplomatic or consular relations with countries with historical, culrural, or trading ties to Fiji; Ambassadors stationed in such countries are often accredited to neighbouring countries. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... The Houses of Parliament in London The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modeled after that of the United Kingdom system, as used in the Palace of Westminster, the location of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Fiji became a republic in 1987, when Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom formally abdicated as Queen of Fiji, following two military coups led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka. ... A cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ... Fiji received its independence in 1970. ... Overview The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fijis Parliament. ...

The multi-party Cabinet provision

Cabinet Ministers are formally appointed by the President, but he is constitutionally required to do so only on the advice of the Prime Minister. An unusual feature of the Fijian constitution is its provision for a compulsory coalition cabinet - even if one party has a parliamentary majority in its own right. Every political party with more than 8 seats in the 71-member parliament must be offered a proportionate number of cabinet posts. If the Prime Minister wishes to give cabinet posts to members of a party with fewer than 8 representatives, he must do so at the expense of his own party, not of other parties in the coalition. This provision was written into the 1997 Constitution with a view to forcing Fiji's political parties, which represented ethnic communities for the most part, to cooperate rather than compete for absolute power. In adopting this novel feature, Fijians noted that a similar system has been operating successfully in Switzerland for decades. More recently, it has been tried (with far less success) in Northern Ireland. Background The Constitution of the Republic of the Fiji Islands dates from 1997. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A political party is a political organization subscribing to a certain ideology or formed around very special issues with the aim to participate in power, usually by participating in elections. ... Motto: (Latin) Who will separate us?[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Irish, Ulster Scots3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the...

Problems with the model

Until May 2006, the multi-party cabinet model was never successfully maintained in Fiji, however. The Chaudhry government refused to include the Fijian Political Party in the 1999-2000 cabinet, despite the party's holding the required 8 parliamentary seats. Then following the election of 2001, Mahendra Chaudhry, the leader of the Fiji Labour Party, was involved in litigation against the Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, on the grounds that Qarase had unconstitutionally refused to include the Labour Party in the Cabinet. On 18 July 2003, Fiji's Supreme Court ruled that the exclusion of the Labour Party was in breach of the Constitution, and demanded that the situation be rectified. Amid appeals, counter-appeals, and negotiations, the situation had still not been resolved as of June 2004, when the Supreme Court handed down a further ruling that the Labour Party was entitled to 14 out of 30 posts in the Cabinet. Qarase announced that he would abide by the ruling and would appoint enlarge the Cabinet to include the requisite number of Labour Party ministers, but not Chaudhry himself. This continued to stall negotiations, until late November 2004, when Chaudhry announced that the Labour Party had decided to remain in opposition for the remainder of the present parliamentary term. May 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → May 1, 2006 (Monday) Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association outraged Vatican by planning to ordain another bishop, Liu Xinhong in Anhui Province. ... Mahendra Pal Chaudhry (born 9 February 1942) is the leader of the Fiji Labour Party and currently the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. ... The Fijian Political Party (better known by its initials SVT, which stand for its Fijan name, Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei) is a party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999, but which is currently without representation in the House... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a Supreme Court decision, following the failure of the Fiji coup of 2000. ... Mahendra Pal Chaudhry (born 9 February 1942) is the leader of the Fiji Labour Party and currently the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Fiji received its independence in 1970. ... Laisenia Qarase (born February 4, 1941) is the Prime Minister of Fiji. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Court of Fiji is one of three courts established by Chapter 9 of the Constitution, the others being the High Court and the Court of Appeal. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Following the parliamentary election held on 6-13 May 2006, Prime Minister Qarase named a multi-party cabinet consisting of 24 Ministers (11 SDL plus 3 SDL-affiliated Senators, 9 FLP, and one independent) and 12 Ministers of State (11 SDL and one independent). There was some controversy over Qarase's claim that requirement for proportional representation did not extend to the Ministers of State, and that the three Senators named to the Cabinet, though members of the SDL, should not be counted as such for the purpose of allocating Cabinet numbers. Further controversy has continued since, with FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry (who declined a Cabinet post) insisting that FLP members of the Cabinet owe their first loyalty to the Cabinet. Prime Minister Qarase, on the other hand, has maintained that all Ministers are bound by collective Cabinet decision-making. The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (134th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. ...

Calls for amendments

On 16 December 2004, Prime Minister Qarase announced that he would try to get Mahendra Chaudhry's agreement to amend the constitution to abolish the multi-party cabinet rule, which he called "ridiculous," and replace it with a requirement for the cabinet to be "multi-ethnic." This would require a change to Qarase's own cabinet, which at present contains only one Indo-Fijian and only two non-indigenous Fijians. December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Indo-Fijians are people born in Fiji, but are ethnically Indian. ... Indigenous Fijians are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands. ...

Qarase reiterated his calls for a change to the constitution on 5 October 2005, and indicated that he would contest the 2006 election on such a platform. Speaking on VitiFm Radio, Qarase said that the multi-party Cabinet provisions of the constitution were unworkable and contrary to democratic principles. "Fiji should change to true democratic rule whereby whoever wins the elections governs, instead of being forced to work in a Cabinet with others of different views, beliefs and ideas on how to run the Government. The result will be an unworkable Cabinet," Qarase said. The provision had been hastily added to the Constitution as an afterthought, he said, and had not been given due consideration. Only three other countries had ever tried the model, none of them successfully, he claimed. "We want a stable government that can govern well and is not shaky," he concluded. October 5 is the 278th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (279th in Leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. ...

Qarase repeated his calls for amendments on 23 December 2003. Changing the constitutional provision for a multi-party Cabinet to a multi-ethnic one, he told the Fiji Village news service on 23 December, would guarantee equitable representation to all ethnic communities without requiring the government to compromise with ideologically opposite parties. December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Fiji Village is an online news service in Fiji. ... December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). ...

Membership

August 2006- December 2006, the composition of the Cabinet (excluding the Ministers of State, who function as deputy ministers), was as follows. 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Fiji received its independence in 1970. ... Laisenia Qarase (born February 4, 1941) is the Prime Minister of Fiji. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Fijis chief governmental legal officer is the Attorney General. ... Qoriniasi Bale, Attorney-General of Fiji Qoriniasi Babitu Bale is a lawyer and political leader, who is currently Fijis Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, offices he has held on two separate occasions. ... The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. ... Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. ... Ratu Jone Kubuabola Ratu Jone Yavala Kubuabola is Fijis Minister for Finance, a position he has held since 2000. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Ro is a title used by Fijian chiefs in the Province of Rewa. ... Ro Teimumu Kepa Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa is a Fijian chief and politician. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... The Minister for Fijian Affairs is the Cabinet Minister responsible for the preservation of Fijian culture and for the economic and social development of indigenous Fijians. ... Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. ... Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu is a Fijian high chief and politician, who was the Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, prior to his resignation on 7 April 2005. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Hon. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Hon. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Hon. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... George Shiu Raj is a Fijian politician, who served as Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs from 2001 to 30 September 2004, when he resigned amid accusations of misuse of funds. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... The Minister for Foreign Affairs (commonly known as the Foreign Minister) is Fijis Cabinet Minister responsible for international relations and diplomacy. ... Kaliopate Tavola Kaliopate Tavola is a Fijian economist, diplomat, and politician, who has been his countrys Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2000. ... The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. ... Hon. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... Josefa Vosanibola Josefa Bole Vosanibola is a Fijian politician, who has served as Minister for Home Affairs since 16 December 2004, when he was appointed by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to succeed Joketani Cokanasiga. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... A Minister without Portfolio is a government minister with no specific responsibilities. ... Adi is a title used by Fijian women of chiefly rank, namely female members of chiefly clans. ... Adi Samanunu Cakobau-Talakuli (born 1940) is a Fijian chief, politician, and diplomat. ... The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. ... Poseci Bune is a Fijian politician, who is currently (2005) the Deputy Leader of the opposition Fiji Labour Party (FLP). ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Hon. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Dr. Gunasagaran Gounder Gunasagaran Gounder is a Fijian medical doctor and politician of Indian descent. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Gyani Nand Gyani Nand is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi, M.P. Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi, is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Udit Narayan Udit Narayan is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Ragho Nand Ragho Nand is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... Adi is a title used by Fijian women of chiefly rank, namely female members of chiefly clans. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji. ... The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua) is a political party in Fiji. ... The Senate of Fiji is the upper chamber of Parliament. ...

Former Ministers of State

Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase named twelve Ministers of State, whose roles are to assist Cabinet Ministers with their portfolios, in May 2006. Fiji received its independence in 1970. ... Laisenia Qarase (born February 4, 1941) is the Prime Minister of Fiji. ... May 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → May 1, 2006 (Monday) Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association outraged Vatican by planning to ordain another bishop, Liu Xinhong in Anhui Province. ...