3 Aug 2002

Fiji Labour MPs walk out of parliament during opposition leader's speech

10:03 am on 3 August 2002

Members of the Fiji Labour Party walked out of Parliament on Friday when the leader of the Opposition, Prem Singh, stood up to speak.

Radio Fiji says the walkout was led by the Labour leader, Mahendra Chaudhry.

Mr Chaudhry has refused to comment but Labour MPs told the radio station that they had been told to walk out of the House when Mr Singh rose to speak.

They returned to the House when Mr Singh finished his speech.

Mr Chaudhry has been running a longstanding campaign to remove Mr Singh from the House after Labour filed an election petition and a High Court ruling deprived him of his Nadi Open seat.

But that ruling is currently under appeal before the Supreme Court which has yet to give its decision.