Page 11 - IB April 2025

Politics Politics

Government ministers and Fiji Electoral Reform Commissioners

but Fiji defeats that objective by simultaneously requiring a could look at that MP to solve local-level problems.
5% threshold. Parties or independents that do not reach the It would not be possible to return to single-member
5% threshold get no seats whatsoever. That makes the system districts without amending the Constitution, but most
much less proportional because the big parties get a share of electoral specialists think Fiji is better off with a proportional
seats that is larger than their share of votes. representation system. Such systems make the highly
In the earlier March draft of the 2013 Constitution, there ethnicised two-party polarisation witnessed both under the
was a four constituency model proposed, with separate 1970 and 1997 Constitutions less likely. Single-member district
constituencies for the Western, Central, Northern, and systems, like first-past-the-post or the alternative vote, are
Eastern Divisions. Shifting to such an arrangement would not those with districts which only elect one member. You cannot
breach the 2013 Constitution. have a proportional representation system if you only elect
In a four-constituency model, it would be possible to modify one member. In the Fiji context, such single-member district
the ballot paper to show not only candidates but also parties systems encourage a ‘winner takes all’ contest between two
and party symbols. One of the major objections to the current ethnic parties.
system has concerned the obscure numbers-only ballot paper. With a multiple constituency system, Fiji could have a
Under the present system, the ballots are primarily counted closer relationship between its MPs and their constituents.
by party. Only after the party tallies are calculated do the For example, with the present 55 MPs, one could potentially
individual tallies decide which candidates win seats. It makes have eleven five-member constituencies, or three or four
sense to make the party more clearly visible on the ballot bigger constituencies. It would not require nearly as many
paper. votes to reach the 5% threshold if constituencies were
Some critics argue that the present system is unfair smaller, so the system would be less unfair to smaller parties
because parties depend on a ‘rock star’ candidate to obtain or independents. The country could retain the advantages
a huge number of nationwide votes and then less well-known of proportionality but simultaneously strengthen the
candidates get elected on the coat-tails of that national accountability of MPs to specific districts.
leader. In a three- or four-constituency model, national Those who argue that such a reform could not be
leaders would (for better or worse) be confined to one of undertaken within the confines of the 2013 Constitution are
several smaller constituencies. either misreading the Constitution or else pulling the wool
Above all, many critics object to the current system over people’s eyes.
because it severs any link between Members of Parliament
and specific geographical areas. Under all of Fiji’s earlier Jon on Fraenkel is Professor of Comparative Politics, Victoria
systems, there were lots of single member districts, meaning University of Wellington, New Zealand and has written
that citizens could know exactly who their MP was and they extensively on political systems in Fiji.

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