by Fergus Hanson
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28 April 2008 4:06PM
Sanjay Ramesh, political editor of the Sydney Fiji Times, responds to Satish Chand's contribution to our Fiji debate:
Satish is right on the mark when he states that holding elections in March 2009 may not resolve Fiji’s deep-seated political problems and will not end the cycle of coups, because as I have mentioned in one of my articles in the World Press, 'holding elections will not magically resolve Fiji's deep-rooted problems and both Australia and New Zealand know that. There is a need to re-analyze Fiji's existing constitution, including the electoral system, and arrive at a political-constitutional framework that would in the future encourage inter-ethnic cooperation at all levels of government'.
The problem is that besides the Fiji Labour Party and the National Alliance Party of Fiji, none of the other political parties are participating in the deliberations of the National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF). As a result, an election without the necessary political consensus among opposing parties will lead to a repeat of the 2006 general election result with an even more violent outcome.
