(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
As Fijians prepare to cast their votes in long awaited elections this month, one former prime minister is suggesting the poll lacks any credibility.
He says it will lead his Pacific nation to be further ostracised by the international community.
Michael Kenny reports.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudry, leader of the country's Labour Party, is barred from Wednesday's election after a recent conviction for defrauding Fiji's central bank.
Mr Chaudry, Fiji's first and only Indo-Fijian prime minister, was removed from office in a military coup in 2000 after being held captive in parliament house for nearly 60 days.
He believes there is a growing push in Fiji to oust Voreqe Bainimarama, who seized power in a 2006 military takeover and whose Fiji First party has ruled the country ever since.
But Mr Chaudry says he believes the electoral rules put in place hurt the opposition parties by letting the interim government have full control over how the poll is conducted.
"It is being controlled by the regime. The Minister for Elections is the Attorney General. He is also a candidate for the Fiji First Party and its Secretary General. So you have a candidate who is the Secretary General of a political party acting as a minister with oversight over the elections."
Mr Chaudry says he believes the interim government has passed unfair electoral rules aimed at harming the chances of opposition parties in the election.
Those rules include banning dual citizens and anyone who has not lived in Fiji for at least two years from running as candidates.
Mr Chaudry is also critical of a new provision which allows Fiji citizens now living in other countries to be granted voting rights.
"These people don't work here. They don't pay tax here. They've been away from the country for many years. Yet, they have been allowed to vote. Under the previous electoral legislation, there was a provision that one had to be resident within one's constituency to be able to register as a voter. So all this has been taken away, and I think Commodore Bainimarama's party is relying on overseas Indian votes to support him. So this is why this provision was inserted."
Late last month, Mr Bainimarama visited Sydney to build up support among expatriate Fijian voters.
The Fiji High Commission in Canberra says around 4,000 Fijian Australians have registered to vote in the election.
The expatriate community is divided over Mr Bainimarama's record, with some groups particularly critical of his moves to restrict media freedom and protest movements in Fiji.
The president of the Sydney-based Fiji Democracy and Freedom Movement, Suliasi Daunititu, says he is optimistic about a change of government.
He says many Fijians are angry over the way Fiji First has governed the country.
"Political parties are standing up and speaking out. It really is a boost of encouragement for us that we know now that that chain of oppression that we were stuck with ... There was no voice in Fiji until the Democracy Movement stood up. We have come a long way in eight years, and we are excited about the 17th of September."
Fiji-born academic Professor Brij Lal believes Commodore Bainimarama will cling to power in Fiji despite a dramatic swing against the interim government.
That government expelled the Australian National University academic in 2009 after he criticised Commodore Bainimarama in media interviews while visiting Fiji.
Professor Lal says Fiji First is unlikely to gain an outright majority in the new parliament.
He suggests the party will probably need to negotiate a coalition arrangement with its main rival, the Social Democratic Liberal Party.
And he believes that could lead to considerable political tension in the country.
"The problem is that the Commodore's modus operandi is really quite authoritarian -- it's 'my way or the highway.' He is not known for compromise and negotiations and that sort of thing so necessary, as we know in Australia, so necessary to get the political process going."
The Australian Government is co-leading a 14-member Multinational Observation Group to monitor the election in Fiji.
Former Howard Government minister Peter Reith will lead it.
Professor Lal believes the Observation Group's work is too narrowly focused on the counting of ballots on election day and says other important issues are likely to be overlooked.
"I hope that the Multinational Observer Group would interpret its role slightly more liberally to look at, for example, the media freedoms, (to) look at, for example, the way in which the institutions and processes of government have been manipulated for political purposes, the way in which public funds have been raided for political campaigns and so on."
Former prime minister Mahendra Chaudry says he believes the work of the Multinational Observer Group is pointless because the election is tainted.
"I think the process has been contaminated even before these people arrived here. They are quite helpless. They have to act what the regime tells them. We'll have to wait and see their report as to what they say about the entire process. It is not just the voting booths that we're concerned about."
Share
