Josefa Iloilo Revokes Fiji Constitution, Appoints Bainimarama PM

by Tina Kells | April 9, 2009 at 04:28 pm

109 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

President Ratu Josefa Iloilo revoked Fiji's Constitution and fired all the judges April 10, after a court ruling determined that the 2006 military coup was illegal. President Iloilo dissolved government and appointed himself the new head of state.

President Iloilo will appoint a new government in the coming week and plans to call a general election in 2014. The President's move comes on the heels of Commodore Frank Bainimarama's retirement as Fiji's Prime Minister, April 9, 2009.

Yesterday Commodore Frank Bainimarama said he would relinquish his post as self-appointed prime minister but remain Fiji's military leader.

Bainimarama's military regime suffered a major blow with the ruling that it is illegal and that Commodore Bainimarama should be removed as prime minister.

Bainimarama responded by saying he was relinquishing his post as self-appointed prime minister but would continue as the country's military leader and return his troops to their barracks.

"The ruling of the Court of Appeal and its refusal to grant a stay pending the appeal means, in practical terms, that we effectively do not now have a prime minister or any ministers of the state," he said in a televised address to the nation.

"In other words, we do not have a government in place," Bainimarama said.

Updated: April 10, 2009

As his first appointment after revoking the Constitution in Fiji, President Josefa Iloilo appointed former coup leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama as the official Prime Minister on April 11, 2009. This strange move comes only days after a high court had ruled that the military coup led by Bainimarama was illegal and that he was not a rightful head of state.

Fiji's military chief Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was Saturday reappointed as interim prime minister by the president, a day after Ratu Josefa Iloilo set off fresh turmoil by repealing the constitution.

Iloilo was also planning to swear in cabinet ministers in the South Pacific nation later in the day, a government statement said.

Fiji has been plunged into a new political crisis since Thursday when the Court of Appeal declared that Bainimarama's government had been illegally appointed by Iloilo following the December 2006 military coup.