Kreetika Kumar 
Jon Fraenkel [Source: Fiji National University/ Facebook]
A political expert has warned that Fiji is now too close to its next general election to pursue any major changes to the electoral system.
Speaking during a public lecture, scholar of Comparative Politics at Victoria University of Wellington, Jon Fraenkel argues that rushed reforms could damage the legitimacy of the country’s democratic processes.
He says initiating electoral reform in the current political climate would be “very unwise.”
Jon Fraenkel [Source: Fiji National University/ Facebook]
Fraenkel emphasizes that any meaningful change to the Electoral Act should be the product of careful deliberation in Parliament.
He also warned against the use of Standing Order 51, which allows laws to be passed without full debate.
[Source: Fiji National University/ Facebook]
“If there was any attempt to pass an amendment through Parliament using Standing Order 51, rushed legislation that would be even worse. The suspicions, the fears, the lack of legitimacy in the electoral system. In Fiji, you want a legitimate electoral system above all. You don’t want one that looks like it’s been manipulated in order to favour one party or the other. Electoral reform is best done on a bipartisan or multi-partisan basis, with parties jointly agreeing to changes to the rules.”
Fraenkel outlined what longer-term reforms might look like.
This public lecture was organized by Dialogue Fiji in collaboration with the Fiji National University, which explored the scope for electoral reform inside and outside the 2013 Constitution.
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