Legislative Council (Fiji)
Encyclopedia
The Fiji
an Legislative Council was the colonial
precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.
, on 10 October 1874, the first Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, established an Executive Council
with himself as President and comprising six other European
s. This was a temporary measure to make policy decisions necessary to found and legitimize the new Colonial Government and to carry out the day-to-day affairs of the Government. With the arrival of Sir Arthur Gordon, on 1 September 1875, a permanent machinery for governing the new colony was established. In addition to the Executive Council, Gordon established a Legislative Council composed entirely of nominated members, of whom six were official (public officers, usually heads of Government departments) members, including the Governor
, Colonial Secretary
, Chief Justice
and Attorney General
, and four unofficial (representatives of the community not directly employed by the Government) members nominated by the Governor with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Thus all ten members of the Legislative Council were Europeans.
members appointed by the Governor from a list of 6 nominees submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs
. Persistent demands by Europeans led to an increase in their representation to seven in 1914.
not holding any such office, seven elected European members and two Fijian members. On 29 January 1917, Badri Maharaj
, representing the India
n community, took the twelfth nominated seat in the Legislative Council. He served in the Legislative Council until 1923, when he resigned in opposition to the poll tax
but was re-nominated in 1926 and stayed on as a member until 1929.
was extended to Indian males twenty-one years of age and over who met the same income
, residency, literacy
and nationality
qualifications as Europeans. The new Legislative Council consisted of the Governor as President, not more than thirteen official members, three nominated Fijian members, six elected Europeans and three elected Indians. Europeans and Indians were elected from separate communal rolls
, while the Fijians were nominated from a panel of four to six names submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs.
was appointed the first non-European Speaker
of the Legislative Council.
, Indian and European groups chosen on a communal franchise. The Governor also nominated two from each of the communities. There were to be 19 official members. The Legislative Councillors of each race were permitted to select two from their fellows to the Executive Council. Qualifications to register as a voter disallowed illiterate adults to vote, permitted some people to choose between ethnic rolls and made no provision for Rotumans, Pacific Islander
s, Chinese
and Part-Chinese to vote.
(9 indigenous Fijians (Fijians and Pacific Islanders), 9 Indo-Fijians, and 7 General Electors
(Europeans
, Chinese), elected on closed electoral rolls by voters registered as members of their respective ethnic groups. A further 9 members were elected from cross-voting (from 1972 referred to as National
) constituencies - seats allocated ethnically (3 for each ethnic constituency) but elected by universal suffrage
. The remaining 2 members were nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs.
was not introduced until 1967. A four-member Executive Council had existed from 1904, but it was not a Cabinet
in the modern sense: it was appointed by the colonial Governor and responsible to him alone. The first step towards adoption of the Westminster System
of responsible government was taken in 1964 with the adoption of the Member system, whereby 3 members of the Legislative Council (one from each ethnic constituency) were appointed to the Executive Council and given portfolio responsibilities supervising government departments. They were not "Ministers" in the modern sense, however, as they were still responsible only to the Governor and could not be dismissed by the Legislative Council. In 1967, however, a full ministerial system was adopted, with a Cabinet responsible to the Legislature. Ratu Kamisese Mara
(who was subsequently knighted in 1969) was appointed as the first Chief Minister
.
in the Constitution provided for the old Legislative Council to remain in office, with its name changed to the House of Representatives
, pending the first post-independence elections
of 1972.
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
an Legislative Council was the colonial
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
precursor to the present-day Parliament, which came into existence when Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970.
The first Legislative Council
Immediately after Fiji was ceded to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, on 10 October 1874, the first Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, established an Executive Council
Executive Council (Fiji)
The colonial Governors of Fiji relied on the Executive Council for advice on proposals for legislation which, after being discussed in the Executive Council meetings, came before the Legislative Council in the form of bills. In this way, the Executive Council was the chief policy-making body and...
with himself as President and comprising six other European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
s. This was a temporary measure to make policy decisions necessary to found and legitimize the new Colonial Government and to carry out the day-to-day affairs of the Government. With the arrival of Sir Arthur Gordon, on 1 September 1875, a permanent machinery for governing the new colony was established. In addition to the Executive Council, Gordon established a Legislative Council composed entirely of nominated members, of whom six were official (public officers, usually heads of Government departments) members, including the Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
, Colonial Secretary
Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the...
, Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
and Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, and four unofficial (representatives of the community not directly employed by the Government) members nominated by the Governor with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Thus all ten members of the Legislative Council were Europeans.
Elected European and Nominated Fijian Representation
The first step towards making the Council a popularly elected legislature was taken in 1904, when the council was reconstituted as a 19-member body consisting of the Governor, 10 official members appointed by the Governor, 6 elected members chosen by European males, and 2 FijianFijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...
members appointed by the Governor from a list of 6 nominees submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs
Great Council of Chiefs (Fiji)
The Great Council of Chiefs is a now dormant 1997 constitutional body in the Republic of the Fiji Islands. In April 2007 the council was suspended, due to an unworkable relationship with Frank Bainimarama, leader of an "interim government" which came to power through a military coup in December 2006...
. Persistent demands by Europeans led to an increase in their representation to seven in 1914.
First Indian Nominated Member
On 20 July 1916, the composition of the Legislative Council was increased to twelve nominated members of whom eleven were official members and one a British subjectBritish subject
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
not holding any such office, seven elected European members and two Fijian members. On 29 January 1917, Badri Maharaj
Badri Maharaj
Badri Maharaj was an Indo-Fijian farmer, politician, and philanthropist. He was the first Indian member of the Legislative Council serving for two periods between 1916 to 1923 and 1926 to 1929 as a nominated member but he was not a popular choice for Fiji Indians, who preferred the lawyer, Manilal...
, representing the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n community, took the twelfth nominated seat in the Legislative Council. He served in the Legislative Council until 1923, when he resigned in opposition to the poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
but was re-nominated in 1926 and stayed on as a member until 1929.
Elected Indian Representation
On 1 May 1929, the franchiseSuffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
was extended to Indian males twenty-one years of age and over who met the same income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
, residency, literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
and nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
qualifications as Europeans. The new Legislative Council consisted of the Governor as President, not more than thirteen official members, three nominated Fijian members, six elected Europeans and three elected Indians. Europeans and Indians were elected from separate communal rolls
Communal constituencies (Fiji)
Communal constituencies have been the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General Electors vote for a candidate of their own respective ethnic groups, in constituencies that have...
, while the Fijians were nominated from a panel of four to six names submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs.
Racial parity of non-official members
The next major development took place in 1937, when the Legislative Council was enlarged to 32 members. Of these, 17 were official members appointed by the Governor. In addition, there were five non-official members from each of the three major ethnic groups (Fijians, Indo-Fijians, and Europeans); Indo-Fijians and Europeans directly elected 3 members each, with a further 2 being appointed by the Governor; all 5 Fijian representatives were appointed by the Governor from a list of ten names submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs. In 1954, Ratu Sir Lala SukunaLala Sukuna
Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, KCMG, KBE was a Fijian chief, scholar, soldier, and statesman. He is regarded as the forerunner of the post-independence leadership of Fiji...
was appointed the first non-European Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the Legislative Council.
Women and Fijians enfranchised
In 1963, women were enfranchised and indigenous Fijians were empowered for the first time to vote directly for their representatives on the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council elected in 1963 had 37 members. There were 12 elected members, four from each of the FijianFijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...
, Indian and European groups chosen on a communal franchise. The Governor also nominated two from each of the communities. There were to be 19 official members. The Legislative Councillors of each race were permitted to select two from their fellows to the Executive Council. Qualifications to register as a voter disallowed illiterate adults to vote, permitted some people to choose between ethnic rolls and made no provision for Rotumans, Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander , is a geographic term to describe the indigenous inhabitants of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia.According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, these three regions, together with their islands consist of:Polynesia:...
s, Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
and Part-Chinese to vote.
Universal adult suffrage
The Legislative Council elected in 1966 had 36 members. 25 seats represented Communal constituenciesCommunal constituencies (Fiji)
Communal constituencies have been the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General Electors vote for a candidate of their own respective ethnic groups, in constituencies that have...
(9 indigenous Fijians (Fijians and Pacific Islanders), 9 Indo-Fijians, and 7 General Electors
General Electors (Fiji)
"General Electors" is the term used in Fiji to identify citizens of voting age who belong, in most cases, to ethnic minorities. The Constitution defines General Electors as all Fiji citizens who are not registered as being of Fijian, Indian, or Rotuman descent. Also included are citizens who do...
(Europeans
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
, Chinese), elected on closed electoral rolls by voters registered as members of their respective ethnic groups. A further 9 members were elected from cross-voting (from 1972 referred to as National
National constituencies (Fiji)
National constituencies are a former feature of the Fijian electoral system. They were created as a compromise between demands for universal suffrage on a common voters' roll, and for a strictly communal franchise, with Parliamentary constituencies allocated on an ethnic basis and elected only by...
) constituencies - seats allocated ethnically (3 for each ethnic constituency) but elected by universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
. The remaining 2 members were nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs.
Responsible government
Responsible governmentResponsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
was not introduced until 1967. A four-member Executive Council had existed from 1904, but it was not a Cabinet
Cabinet (Fiji)
Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime...
in the modern sense: it was appointed by the colonial Governor and responsible to him alone. The first step towards adoption of the Westminster System
Westminster System
The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
of responsible government was taken in 1964 with the adoption of the Member system, whereby 3 members of the Legislative Council (one from each ethnic constituency) were appointed to the Executive Council and given portfolio responsibilities supervising government departments. They were not "Ministers" in the modern sense, however, as they were still responsible only to the Governor and could not be dismissed by the Legislative Council. In 1967, however, a full ministerial system was adopted, with a Cabinet responsible to the Legislature. Ratu Kamisese Mara
Kamisese Mara
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...
(who was subsequently knighted in 1969) was appointed as the first Chief Minister
Chief Minister (Fiji)
Fiji's British colonial rulers established the office of Chief Minister in October 1967, along with the Cabinet system of government. This was part of an ongoing move to forge modern political institutions to prepare Fiji for independence, which was granted on 10 November 1970.The Chief Minister,...
.
After independence
When Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970, the Legislative Council was replaced by the Fijian Parliament. A grandfather clauseGrandfather clause
Grandfather clause is a legal term used to describe a situation in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, while a new rule will apply to all future situations. It is often used as a verb: to grandfather means to grant such an exemption...
in the Constitution provided for the old Legislative Council to remain in office, with its name changed to the House of Representatives
House of Representatives (Fiji)
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...
, pending the first post-independence elections
Fiji election of 1972
General elections were held in Fiji between 15 and 29 April 1972, the first since independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. They were characterised by the lack of rancour between racial groups, typical of the 1966 general election and the 1968 by-elections.The result was a landslide for the...
of 1972.