Suva, Aug 05: Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase today issued a deadline to his rival, deposed Prime Minister Indian Mahendra Chaudhry of the Fiji Labour Party (FLP), giving him until tomorrow to submit a list of names to be considered for the 14 new cabinet portfolios. In a separate statement to parliament, Qarase has angrily attacked the involvement of Australian trade unionists in the issue, saying the country "will never bow to your arrogant attempts to impose your will on us." The pacific nation has been on a political hiatus since July 18 when the supreme court issued a ruling that Qarase's cabinet must include members of the rival FLP, deposed in a 2000 coup.
Fiji's current constitution, the third since independence in 1970, requires the winning party at the polls to invite into cabinet members of rival parties in proportion to the total vote in general elections. Qarase resisted giving cabinet posts to the FLP, which won 27 parliamentary seats. Chaudhry went to court and won in both the high court and court of appeal, and on July 18 a five-man Supreme Court panel also ruled Qarase must invite Labour into cabinet.

The requirement for a multi-party cabinet was an attempt, in a country that has so far suffered three coups and a military mutiny, to end racial politics. Around 44 percent of the 840,000 people here are descendants of Indian. Chaudhry himself is an ethnic Indian.
Bureau Report