Suva, July 01: Fiji’s military leader Voreqe Bainimarama said on Wednesday that a new Constitution would be introduced by September 2013 to replace the one his regime tore-up in April.
Bainimarama, who led a coup against the elected government in December 2006, said the new Constitution would be in place a year ahead of elections he plans to hold by September 2014.
“Work on the new Constitution under which the 2014 elections shall be held will commence by September 2012,” he said in a national address.
He called on the international community which has condemned the coup and abrogation of the Constitution to provide assistance for the constitutional review.
“My appeal to the international community is that Fiji has and continues to seek engagement, not disengagement,” he said.
Fiji has been suspended from the regional Pacific Islands Forum and is expected to face similar action from the British Commonwealth after Bainimarama broke a promise to hold elections to restore democracy by March this year.
Bainimarama said the new Constitution would remove the ethnic-based voting system introduced in the 1997 Constitution.
—-Agencies