TIG Post

Tag: Fiji

  • Parliament swearing-in delayed for Fiji’s ‘new PM’

    In the midst of a power transition, Fiji’s police force has appealed for peace and asked “all Fijians to respect the political process.”

    Following national elections, which resulted in the formation of a coalition government by three parties to replace longtime Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, Fiji is anticipating the election of a new leader for the country’s first time in 16 years.

    After elections produced a hung parliament, the Social Democratic Liberal Party, which has three seats and has assumed a leadership role, declared on Tuesday that it had chosen to form a coalition with Sitiveni Rabuka’s People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party.

    After days of discussions and conflicting presentations by the incumbent Bainimarama’s Fiji First party and Rabuka’s People’s Alliance party intended to end the impasse, the coalition was finally formed.

    Television broadcaster FBC said the new coalition government would hold 29 seats in parliament, and the party of Bainimarama – who seized power through a 2006 coup and then legitimised his government with outright election wins in 2014 and 2018 –  would hold 26 seats.

    Fijians took to the streets of the capital Suva in celebration on Tuesday night, cheering ”the new PM” and setting off fireworks.

    But parliament delayed its first sitting on Wednesday when it had been expected that Rabuka would be sworn in as prime minister. The constitution requires that legislators elect the prime minister from the parliament floor if no single party has won more than 50 percent of the seats required.

    Parliament’s secretariat confirmed to the Reuters news agency in an email that the body did not sit because President Wiliame Katonivere has not yet issued a proclamation to hold the session.

    In a statement on Wednesday, the police force called for calm and urged “all Fijians to respect the political process”.

    Bainimarama has not spoken in public since casting his vote in the election last Wednesday. Although he has previously promised to respect the election result, Fiji has been upended by four coups in the past 35 years, so Fijians are awaiting Bainimarama’s response nervously.

    His Fiji First party on Wednesday claimed a deal among opposition parties to form a government was illegitimate.

    “Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama is still the prime minister, so get that right,” said Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, the party’s general-secretary and the attorney-general under Bainimarama’s administration.

    “They are creating disquiet in the community, their motivation is not humble, their motivation is not trying to create stability,” Sayed-Khaiyum claimed.

    He told a press conference that the coalition agreement was “legally immaterial”, and insisted parliament would have to vote to elect the prime minister.

    The Pacific island nation, with a population of 900,000, had a history of military coups before constitutional reform in 2013 removed a race-based voting system that favoured Indigenous Fijians over a large Indian ethnic group.

    Bainimarama has dominated Fiji’s politics for close to 20 years. While not an outright hardliner, his government has frequently used the legal system to sideline opponents, silence critics and muzzle the media.

    Rabuka himself led two coups in 1987 as head of the military and then became prime minister before being removed at the polls in 1999.

    Sayed-Khaiyum said the president could dissolve parliament, which must sit before January 2, and call a new election if the candidate for prime minister fails to win support from 50 percent of legislators after three attempts.

    “Rabuka can’t be prime minister unless he gets elected on the floor of parliament,” he added.

    While New Zealand’s foreign minister congratulated Rabuka on emerging victorious – even before Bainimarama had officially conceded – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offered a more measured response saying that Auckland would “wait” for the dust to settle on the election.

     

    “My understanding is there are a few extra things the (Fijian political) system will continue to go through,” Ardern told reporters.

    “Let’s allow the process to run its course,” she said. “I have faith in Fiji’s ability to conduct the remaining stages of this process and stand ready to acknowledge their new leader.”

    Source: Aljazeera.com 

     

     

     

  • Monster cyclone Harold tears through Fiji

    A deadly Pacific storm slammed into Fiji on Wednesday, tearing off roofs and flooding towns, after leaving a trail of destruction in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

    Tropical Cyclone Harold weakened slightly overnight from a scale-topping Category Five to a Four, but was still lashing Fiji with winds of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour), forecasters said.

    The official NaDraki weather service said the cyclone was offshore south of Fiji’s main island Viti Levu, but passing closer to land than initially expected.

    Despite the downgrade, it said Harold remained “extremely dangerous” as it barrels eastward, threatening further damage in Tonga early Thursday.

    Images on social media showed extensive damage at Nausori, just outside the Fijian capital Suva, with corrugated iron roofs peeled back by the ferocious winds.

    The main street of Ba, in the island’s north, was submerged after the local river burst its banks.

    “Emergency authorities are the only personnel allowed to travel, all Fijians should stay indoors,” Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said.

    “There are a number of reports of winds whipping up flying debris in the Suva area. It can be deadly. Keep yourself indoors and out of harm’s way.”

    The National Disaster Management Office said residents along much of the south coast, home to many of the country’s major tourist resorts, should evacuate.

    NDMO director Vasiti Soko said 85 evacuation centres had been set up and officials were attempting to maintain social distancing to ensure COVID-19 did not spread among those fleeing the cyclone.

    Fiji has 15 cases of the coronavirus, with all known sufferers in quarantine before the cyclone hit.

    – Town ‘obliterated’ –

    Harold claimed 27 lives in the Solomon Islands last week, and on Tuesday ripped through Vanuatu, destroying much of the country’s second-largest town Luganville.

    World Vision’s Vanuatu director Kendra Gates Derousseau said an aerial survey carried out by disaster officials late Tuesday showed the town of Melsisi on Pentecost island had also been devastated.

    “We’ve done some programming there in the past, so I can recognise the landmarks — you can see that 90 percent of all buildings are obliterated, is the term I’d use,” she told AFP.

    A massive international aid effort was launched after the last Category Five storm to hit Vanuatu, Cyclone Pam in 2015, flattened the capital Port Vila.

    But Vanuatu’s international borders are currently closed as the impoverished Pacific nation bids to remain one of the world’s few places with no confirmed COVID-19 cases.

    The government has revoked a domestic travel ban imposed as part of its virus response, which will allow disaster relief to flow from Port Vila to the worst-hit islands in the north.

    New Zealand deployed a P-3 Orion aircraft to help with damage assessments and allocated NZ$500,000 ($300,000) in aid funding for essential supplies.

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Wellington would provide further assistance if requested by Vanuatu.

    “We are aware that the government of Vanuatu is running a ‘keep it out’ strategy, and we will give serious consideration to ensure that any response to the cyclone does not lead to the spread of COVID-19 to Vanuatu,” he said.

    The cyclone formed off the Solomons last week, where it washed dozens of passengers from an inter-island ferry into the sea.

    It was initially expected to only reach Category Three.

    Latest forecasts say it will brush past Tonga early Thursday, still at Category Four strength, before petering out over the sea by the weekend.

    Tonga’s Fua’amotu Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said some coastal areas should expect to be pounded by massive six-metre (20-foot) swells.

    Its arrival coincides with a high tide and flood warnings were in place for much of the kingdom.

    Source: AFP