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Fiji court orders govt to include Oppn lawmakers in cabinet
Suva, July 18: The Fiji Supreme Court today ordered the government to accept up to eight opposition lawmakers into its cabinet, a decision that many observers fear could inflame racial tensions in this volatile nation.
Suva, July 18: The Fiji Supreme Court today ordered the government to accept up to eight opposition lawmakers into its cabinet, a decision that many observers fear could inflame racial tensions in this volatile nation.
In a 60-page judgment, the South Pacific nation's highest court said Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is bound under Fiji's multiracial constitution to form a cabinet that includes members of the opposition Fiji Labour Party.
The government is dominated by indigenous Fijians of Melanesian and Polynesian descent. The opposition Labour Party is led by ethnic Indians descended from laborers imported by the former colonial master Britain a century ago.
Tensions between indigenous Fijians and Indians have been the major cause of political instability in Fiji, which has been rocked by three coups in the past 16 years. Indigenous Fijians make up just over half the nation's 820,000 people, and ethnic Indians about 44 per cent.
Ahead of the decision police yesterday had tightened security around the court buildings in the capital, Suva, and warned people to stay away from the area.
In a short statement delivering the ruling, Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki said the five-judge bench was "unanimously of the opinion that the Constitution required the Prime Minister to select ministers from the Fiji Labour Party to his cabinet" and could not bar them because of policy differences.
Neither Qarase nor opposition Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry was present in the court. Both sides said they would make public statements after assessing the detailed judgment.
Bureau Report
The government is dominated by indigenous Fijians of Melanesian and Polynesian descent. The opposition Labour Party is led by ethnic Indians descended from laborers imported by the former colonial master Britain a century ago.
Tensions between indigenous Fijians and Indians have been the major cause of political instability in Fiji, which has been rocked by three coups in the past 16 years. Indigenous Fijians make up just over half the nation's 820,000 people, and ethnic Indians about 44 per cent.
Ahead of the decision police yesterday had tightened security around the court buildings in the capital, Suva, and warned people to stay away from the area.
In a short statement delivering the ruling, Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki said the five-judge bench was "unanimously of the opinion that the Constitution required the Prime Minister to select ministers from the Fiji Labour Party to his cabinet" and could not bar them because of policy differences.
Neither Qarase nor opposition Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry was present in the court. Both sides said they would make public statements after assessing the detailed judgment.
Bureau Report