[Photo: FILE]

The tabling of Fiji’s Constitutional Review Commission Report in Parliament is not expected to have any impact on the upcoming General Election.

Acting Attorney General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga says the Commission’s recommendations are not automatically binding on Government.

Turaga says Government has instead been carefully considering both the report and the draft Constitution prepared by the Commission.

Turaga adds that the Government has spent the past week reviewing the Constitutional Review Commission’s report and draft Constitution and will continue that work in the coming days.

He says the tabling of the report in Parliament is part of the normal constitutional process and does not, by itself, trigger any changes to the electoral timetable.

“It’s just a normal process; it’s just tabling. So by presenting it to Parliament, that completes the end of the process. So currently the government is considering.”

Turaga says the Commission’s recommendations remain recommendations for Government to consider.

However, he says the Commission has gone beyond simply making recommendations by producing a draft Constitution, which is now being examined by Government.

“It’s happened in the past process. It is a recommendation. It is for the government to determine. But what they have done, they’ve come up with a draft Constitution. So that’s what government is currently working on.”

Turaga also confirms that the Referendum Bill and Constitutional Amendment Bill are scheduled to be considered during the September parliamentary sitting, following the Special Parliament.

Minister for Information Lynda Tabuya says Government remains committed to advancing the constitutional amendment process within the current parliamentary term.

“We are committed to the September sitting to do the same, so as soon as we have the constitutional review report available to the public we should be able to know thereafter the timeline to file the constitutional amendment bill in parliament.”

Tabuya says Government believes the proposed constitutional changes should be considered by the full Parliament.

The Government’s position comes as attention turns to the next steps following the Commission’s six-month review process and the proposed changes to Fiji’s constitutional framework.

For now, Government maintains that the constitutional process and the upcoming General Election remain separate, with no expected impact on the election timetable from the report’s tabling.