(Redirected from Fijian House of Representatives)
The 'House of Representatives' is the lower chamber of
Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation (the
Senate, by contrast, can amend or veto most legislation, but cannot initiate it). The House of Representatives also has much greater jurisdiction over financial bills; the Senate cannot amend them, although it may veto them. Except in the case of amendments to the
Constitution, over which a veto of the Senate is absolute, the House of Representatives may override a Senatorial veto by passing the same bill a second time, in the parliamentary session immediately following the one in which it was rejected by the Senate, after a minimum period of six months.
Last but not least, the
Prime Minister and
Cabinet must retain the confidence of a majority of the House of Representatives in order to remain in office.
History
The House of Representatives in its present form dates from
10 October 1970, when Fiji attained independence from the
United Kingdom. Under a
grandfather clause in the 1970 Constitution, the old
Legislative Council, which had functioned in various forms since
1904, was renamed the House of Representatives and continued in office until
1972, when the first post-independence
elections were held. Membership of the House of Representatives was increased from 36 to 52 in 1972, and to 70 in
1992. It presently has 71 members, all of whom are elected for five-year terms to represent single-member constituencies.
Electoral system
★ ''See main articles:
Electoral system of Fiji,
Voting system of Fiji''
The electoral system has been changed a number of times since independence in an effort to meet the competing demands of Fiji's diverse
ethnic communities. In elections from 1972 through
1987, Fiji was divided into ''
communal'' and ''
national'' constituencies. The former were elected by voters registered as members of specific ethnic groups (12
indigenous Fijians, 12
Indo-Fijians, and 3
General Electors - Caucasians, Chinese, and other minorities); the latter were allocated to specific ethnic groups (10 indigenous Fijians, 10 Indo-Fijians, and 5 General Electors), but elected by
universal suffrage. The system was a compromise between indigenous demands for a strictly communal franchise (based on fears of being swamped by an Indo-Fijian block-vote) and Indo-Fijian calls for universal suffrage, and was never widely popular. Ethnic Fijian nationalists blamed the national constituencies for
the election of an Indo-Fijian dominated government in 1987, and following
two military coups, they were abolished by the new republican Constitution of
1990.
The elections of 1992 and
1994 saw all 70 members elected from communal constituencies; this system was widely resented by many Indo-Fijians, who complained that only 27 seats were allocated to them as opposed to 37 to ethnic Fijians, despite the near equality of their numbers at that time. A further 5 seats were allocated to minority groups.
A constitutional review in
1997 introduced a new system, with 71 members. 25 are elected by universal suffrage from
Open constituencies ("open" meaning that the franchise is open to all locally resident Fijian citizens, irrespective of their ethnic background), with the remaining 46 elected from communal constituencies, with 23 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians, 19 for Indo-Fijians, 1 for
Rotuman Islanders, and 3 for "General Electors" - Europeans, Chinese,
Banaban Islanders, and other minorities. Every Fijian citizen eligible to vote thus has two votes - one for an open electorate, and one for a communal electorate. The system remains controversial, however.
The ''open constituencies'' used at present differ from the former ''national constituencies'' in that while both comprise all registered voters on a common voters' roll, regardless of race, the open constituencies may be contested by members of any ethnic group whereas the national constituencies were ethnically allocated.
Organization
At its first session following a general election, the House of Representatives elects a
Speaker and a
Deputy Speaker. With a view to ensuring impartiality, the Speaker is not allowed to be a member of the House, though he must qualify for membership. The Deputy Speaker, however, is elected from among members of the House.
Latest election
The current composition of the House of Representatives, together with its officers, is as follows:
Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Open Electorates
Communal Electorates (Fijian)
Communal Electorates (Indo-Fijian)
Communal Electorate (Rotuman)
Communal Electorates (General Electors)
External links
★
Official Website of the Parliament of Fiji
★
House of Representatives
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