Constitution shake-up | Four Opposition MPs vote for change - Voice of Asia

If the "Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2025" is passed, future amendments to the 2013 Constitution will only require the support of 37 members of parliament, which is two-thirds of the members.

The bill was presented to Parliament last night by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. The bill also proposes to remove the requirement to submit any constitutional amendments to a national referendum.

Last night, four opposition members of parliament voted with the government to indicate their support for amending the 2013 Constitution. Rinesh Sharma, Shalen Kumar, Sachida Nand, and Sanjeev Kirpal voted in favor of a motion allowing Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to present the "Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2025."

The support of these four opposition members brought the total number of votes in favor to 41, while there were 13 votes against. The voting results showed that the Minister for Rural Development, Sakiasi Ditoka, did not vote. The "Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2025" aims to amend Section 160 of the Constitution.

The bill states: "This will allow for the updating of relevant provisions and, more importantly, the refinement of provisions that require public review and voting." The bill also states: "The bill also seeks to remove the requirement for referendums in the Constitution, which is consistent with historical practice and precedent."

Section 160 of the Constitution proposes to change the required parliamentary support for amending the Constitution from "three-quarters" to "two-thirds." This means that once the bill is passed, amending the Constitution will only require the support of 37 members of parliament, instead of 75% of the members.

The "Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2025" proposes to completely remove the requirement that any constitutional amendment must be subject to a national referendum. If the bill is passed, parts 3 to 6 of Section 160 will be repealed. These parts require three-quarters of the total number of registered voters in Fiji to vote in favor of any constitutional amendment in a referendum organized by the Electoral Commission.

The first reading of the bill was conducted last night, and the Prime Minister will later go to Parliament for the second reading and debate the bill.