Litia Cava 
One Nation Party President and Senior Counsel Roko Tupou Draunidalo [Photo: FILE]
One Nation Party President and Senior Counsel Roko Tupou Draunidalo says the 2013 Constitution marks the first time in Fiji’s history that political power passed from one side of Parliament to another without a coup.
Draunidalo pointed this out during the Fijian Media Association’s town hall meeting, where she compared the country’s political transitions under the 1970, 1990, 1997 and 2013 constitutions.
She recalled that the transfer of power from the Alliance Party to the Fiji Labour Party-led Coalition under the 1970 Constitution was followed by the 1987 coup.
She also referred to the 1990 Constitution, under which political power remained within the same political grouping, and the 1997 Constitution, under which the 2000 coup followed another change of government.
She contrasted those periods with the 2022 General Election, when the FijiFirst Government lost its parliamentary majority, and the Coalition Government assumed office following the parliamentary vote.
Draunidalo also referred to former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, recalling how they walked out of Parliament following the vote.
She remarked that they appeared to leave as though freed from the burden of governing the country, leaving that responsibility to the incoming government.
