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Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama on Wednesday defended the imposition of emergency rule, saying it had to be done for the sake of electoral reform.
Widespread restrictions were imposed after Fiji's president revoked the country's constitution and sacked the judiciary in retaliation for a Court of Appeal decision that the regime in power since a military coup in 2006 was illegal.
The military-led government introduced strict media censorship and put the Reserve Bank of Fiji under military control.
Bainimarama told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday that the decision to abrogate the constitution was made after a survey found 64 percent of those in Fiji wanted the electoral reform, and wanted to move away from the old systems of voting based on race.
He said the Appeal Court had not taken the wish for reform into account.
"This is nothing to do with the Australian government, not the New Zealand government, this is to do with Fiji, the people of Fiji," he told Radio New Zealand.
"We want changes, we're going to come up with changes," he said.
Bainimarama said he had imposed emergency regulations so the reforms could be implemented.
"We want to do these changes, we want to come up with these reforms, and the last thing we want is opposition to these reforms throughout," he said.
Bainimarama said elections will be held in September 2014 and media controls may be lifted in a month.
In a related development, the Fiji Reserve Bank on Wednesday devalued the Fiji dollar by 20 percent following reports of declining foreign currency reserves.
The announcement came after a raft of changes imposed by the new military government, including the replacement of the Reserve Bank governor.
On Tuesday, the bank tightened exchange controls in a move to safeguard foreign reserves. |
