1 Nov 2002

Fiji Democratic Party calls for multi-party government

11:22 am on 1 November 2002

The Fiji Democratic Party has called on the prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, to follow the law and form a multi-party government.

The party says the idea of a multi-party government has not been tried because political leaders fear losing the comforts and perks of their positions.

The Fiji Democratic Party leader, Filipe Bole, has told the Sun newspaper that a multi-party cabinet is not unrealistic and a multi-party leader would be much more powerful than one who is not.

Mr Bole says this is better than the former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka's suggestion that the only way out of the current impasse is to change the constitution.

Mr Bole says no real effort has been made by the government to discuss a multi-party cabinet with Labour and work out how such an arrangement could be implemented.

He says the better way forward is to implement the multi-party provisions of the constitution and from then on it would be up to the prime minister to determine its feasibility or otherwise.