Constitution of the Fiji Islands

By Republic of the Fiji Islands

The Constitution of the Republic of the Fiji Islands dates from 1997. It is Fiji's third Constitution. The first, adopted in 1970 upon independence, was abrogated following two military coups in 1987. A second constitution was adopted in 1990. Its discriminatory provisions, which reserved the office of Prime Minister and a built-in majority in the House of Representatives for indigenous Fijians (although they were at that time a minority of the population) proved very unpopular with the Indo-Fijian community, which comprised almost half the country's population, and in the mid-1990s the government agreed that it should be rewritten.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2021
• ISBN: 4064066452971

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Republic of the Fiji Islands

Constitution of the Fiji Islands

Published by Good Press, 2021

[e-mail]

EAN 4064066452971

Table of Contents

Chapter I The State

Section 1 Republic of the Fiji islands

Section 2 Supremacy of Constitution

Section 3 Interpretation of Constitution

Section 4 Languages

Section 5 State and religion

Chapter 2 Compact

Section 6 Compact

Section 7 Application of Compact

Chapter 3 Citizenship

Section 8 Retention of existing citizenship

Section 9 Way in which citizenship may be acquired

Section 10 Citizenship by birth

Section 11 Infant found abandoned in Fiji

Section 12 Citizenship by registration

Section 13 Citizenship by naturalisation

Section 14 Loss of citizenship

Section 15 Renunciation of citizenship

Section 16 Rights to enter and reside in Fiji

Section 17 Powers of Parliament concerning citizenship

Section 18 Laws relating to calculation of periods in Fiji

Section 19 Deprivation of citizenship

Section 20 Prevention of statements

Chapter 4 Bill of Rights

Section 21 Application

Section 22 Life

Section 23 Personal liberty

Section 24 Freedom from servitude and force labour

Section 25 Freedom from cruel or degrading treatment

Section 26 Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizure

Section 27 Arrested or detained persons

Section 28 Rights of charged persons

Section 29 Access to courts or tribunals

Section 30 Freedom of expression

Section 31 Freedom of assembly

Section 32 Freedom of association

Section 33 Labour relations

Section 34 Freedom of movement

Section 35 Religion and belief

Section 36 Secret ballot

Section 37 Privacy

Section 38 Equality

Section 39 Education

Section 40 Protection against compulsory acquisition of property

Section 41 Enforcement

Section 42 Human Rights Commission

Section 43 Interpretation

Chapter 5 Social Justice

Section 44 Social justice and affirmative action

Chapter 6 The Parliament

Part 1 General

Section 45 Legislative power

Section 46 Way in which legislative power exercised

Section 47 Passage of Bills

Section 48 Urgent Bills

Section 49 Limitation on powers of Senate with respect to money Bills

Part 2 House of Representatives

Section 50 Members

Section 51 Seats

Section 52 Boundaries

Section 53 Redistributions

Section 54 Voting and other matters

Section 55 Registration as voter

Section 56 Compulsory voting

Section 57 Registration of voters

Section 58 Nomination as candidate for election

Section 59 Terms of House of Representatives

Section 60 Writs for elections

Section 61 Date of nomination

Section 62 Dates of polling

Section 63 By-elections

Part 3 Senate

Section 64 Members

Section 65 Terms of Senate

Section 66 Vacancies

Part 4 Both Houses

Section 67 Candidates who are public officeholders

Section 68 Sessions of Parliament

Section 69 Voting in both Houses

Section 70 Quorum

Section 71 Vacation of place of member of Parliament

Section 72 Vacancies in House membership

Section 73 Court of disputed returns

Section 74 Proceedings of the Parliament

Part 5 Institutions and Offices

Section 75 Constituency Boundaries Commission

Section 76 Appointments to Constituency Boundaries Commission

Section 77 Disqualification for appointment

Section 78 Electoral Commission

Section 79 Supervisor of Elections

Section 80 Speaker and Deputy Speaker

Section 81 President and Vice-President of the Senate

Section 82 Leader of the Opposition

Section 83 Parliamentary Emoluments Commission

Section 84 Secretary-General to Parliament and staff

Chapter 7 Executive Government

Part 1 Executive Authority

Section 85 President

Section 86 Head of State

Section 87 Commander-in-Chief

Section 88 Vice-President

Part 2 President and Vice-President

Section 89 Qualifications for President and Vice-President

Section 90 Appointment of President and Vice-President

Section 91 Term of Office

Section 92 Vacancy in office of Vice-President

Section 93 Removal from office of President or Vice-President

Section 94 Oath of office by President and Vice-President

Section 95 Legislation relating to President or Vice-President

Part 3 Cabinet Government

Section 96 President acts on advice

Section 97 Responsible government

Section 98 Appointment of Prime Minister

Section 99 Appointment of other Ministers

Section 100 Attorney-General

Section 101 Oath of office by Minister

Section 102 Responsibility of Ministers and Cabinet

Section 103 Functions of Ministers

Section 104 President to be kept informed

Section 105 Vacation of office of Minister

Section 106 Acting Ministers

Section 107 Defeat of Government of polls or on floor of House

Section 108 Advice to dissolve Parliament by Prime Minister defeated on confidence vote

Section 109 Dismissal of Prime Minister

Part 4 Government Administration

Section 110 Secretaries of departments

Section 111 Commissioner of Police

Section 112 Republic of Fiji Military Forces

Section 113 Solicitor-General

Section 114 Director of Public Prosecutions

Part 5 Prerogative of Mercy

Section 115 Prerogative of mercy

Chapter 8 Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga)

Section 116 Bose Levu Vakaturaga

Chapter 9 Judiciary

Section 117 Judicial power

Section 118 Independence of judicial branch

Section 119 Jurisdiction of courts of State

Section 120 Jurisdiction of High Court

Section 121 Jurisdiction of Court of Appeal

Section 122 Jurisdiction of Supreme Court

Section 123 Advisory jurisdiction

Section 124 Contempt of court

Section 125 Rules of court

Section 126 Composition of High Court

Section 127 Composition of Court of Appeal

Section 128 Composition of Supreme Court

Section 129 Disqualification of judge

Section 130 Qualifications for appointment

Section 131 Judicial Service Commission

Section 132 Appointments of judges

Section 133 Other appointments

Section 134 Criteria for appointment to judicial office

Section 135 Oath of office

Section 136 Judges remuneration

Section 137 Retirement ages for judges

Section 138 Removal of judges for cause

Section 139 Existing appointments

Chapter 10 State s

Section 140 Recruitment and promotion policy

Section 141 Public officeholders must be citizens

Section 142 Independent service commissions

Section 143 Appointments to independent service commissions

Section 144 Vacancies in office

Section 145 Disqualification for appointment

Section 146 Functions of Constitutional Offices Commission

Section 147 Functions of Public Service Commission

Section 148 Public Service Commission must consult or get agreement in certain cases

Section 149 Appointment of ambassadors, etc.

Section 150 Public Service Commission may delegate

Section 151 Appeals against decisions of Public Service Commission

Section 152 Functions of Disciplined Services Commission

Section 153 Powers of Commissioner of Police

Section 154 Disciplined Services Commission may delegate

Section 155 Interpretation

Chapter 11 Accountability

Part 1 Code of Conduct

Section 156 Code of Conduct

Part 2 Ombudsman

Section 157 Ombudsman

Section 158 Functions of Ombudsman

Section 159 Discretion not to investigate

Section 160 Investigations

Section 161 Reports by Ombudsman

Section 162 Reports to the Parliament

Section 163 Appointment of Ombudsman

Section 164 Annual report

Part 3 Auditor-General

Section 166 Auditor-General

Section 167 Functions of Auditor-General

Section 168 Appointment of Auditor-General

Part 4 General Provisions Relating to Certain Constitutional Offices

Section 169 Interpretation

Section 170 Terms and conditions of office

Section 171 Remuneration and allowances

Section 172 Removal from office for cause

Section 173 Performance of functions of commissions and tribunals

Part 5 Freedom of Information

Section 174 Freedom of information

Chapter 12 Revenue and Expenditure

Section 175 Raising of revenue

Section 176 Consolidated Fund

Section 177 Appropriations to be authorised by law

Section 178 Authorisation of expenditure in advance of appropriation

Section 179 Appropriation and taxing measures require ministerial consent

Section 180 Annual budget

Section 181 Guarantees by Government

Section 182 Public moneys to be accounted for

Section 183 Standing appropriation of Consolidated Fund for payment of certain salaries and allowances

Section 184 Standing appropriation of Consolidated Fund for other purposes

Chapter 13 Group Rights

Section 185 Alteration of certain Acts

Section 186 Customary laws and customary rights

Chapter 14 Emergency Powers

Section 187 Emergency powers

Section 188 Summoning of House of Representatives

Section 189 Powers of House of Representatives

Chapter 15 Amendment of Constitution

Section 190 Alteration of Constitution

Section 191 Special parliamentary majorities

Section 192 Veto power of certain members

Chapter 16 Commencement, Interpretation and Repeals

Section 193 Short title and commencement

Section 194 Interpretation

Section 195 Repeals and transitional

[Chapter 17] Schedule Oaths and Affirmations

[Part 1] A. Oath or Affirmation of Allegiance

[Part 2] B. Oath or Affirmation for due Execution of Office of President or Vice-President

[Part 3] C. Oath or Affirmation for due Execution of Office of Minister

[Part 4] D. Oath or Affirmation for due Execution of Judicial Office

Chapter I The State

Table of Contents

Section 1 Republic of the Fiji islands

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The Republic of the Fiji Islands is a sovereign, democratic state.

Section 2 Supremacy of Constitution

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(1) This Constitution is the supreme law of the State. (2) Any law inconsistent with this Constitution is invalid to the extent of the inconsistency.

Section 3 Interpretation of Constitution

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In the interpretation of a provision of this Constitution: (a) a construction that would promote the purpose or object underlying the provision, taking into account the spirit of this Constitution as a whole, is to be preferred to a construction that would not promote that purpose or object; and (b) regard must be had to the context in which this Constitution was drafted and to the intention that constitutional interpretation take into account social and cultural developments, especially: (i) developments in the understanding of the content of particular human rights; and (ii) developments in the promotion of particular human rights.

Section 4 Languages

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(1) The English, Fijian and Hindustani languages have equal status in the State. (2) This Constitution is to be adopted in English but translations in Fijian and Hindustani are to be available. (3) If, in the interpretation of a provision of this Constitution, there is an apparent difference between the meaning of the English version of the provision and its meaning in Fijian or Hindustani, the English version prevails. (4) Every person who transacts business with: (a) a department; (b) an office in a state service; or (c) a local authority; has the right to do so in English, Fijian or Hindustani, either directly or through a competent interpreter.

Section 5 State and religion

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Although religion and the State are separate, the people of the Fiji Islands acknowledge that worship and reverence of God are the source of good government and leadership.

Chapter 2 Compact

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Section 6 Compact

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The people of