One more seat for 50-member Fiji parliament

By Heather Traill

There will now be 51 parliamentary seats to be contested at next year’s general election, the Fiji Electoral Commission  announced this afternoon.

The additional seat is in response to the significant increase in voter numbers, said commission chairperson Suresh Chandra at a press conference at the Fijian Elections Office.

Section 54 of the 2013 Constitution allows the commission to alter the number of parliamentary seats to cater for such an increase.

“The number of registered voters has increased to 603,546 as at 01 march 2017, so we would need one more seat to maintain that ratio in the next election,” said Chandra.

Members of the commission. SOURCE: Fijian Elections Office.

In 2014, the number of registered voters totaled 591,101 with a ratio of 11,822 registered voters per parliamentary seat.

“In order to maintain the ratio of one seat for every 17,472 citizens, we would need 50.73 seats as at 01 March 2017.”

The ratio of one parliamentary seat for every 17,472 citizens was applied for the 2014 general election.

Chandra said the Fiji Bureau of Statistics estimated that Fiji’s population has increased to 886,416. According to the 2014 ratio,  this meant that 50.73 parliamentary seats were required. The commission thus deduced the need for one more seat.

“This is the first time in our history that the Electoral Commission is empowered by the Constitution to alter the number of seats in Parliament,” he noted.

Chandra was appointed to the commission last month. The commission has since had two meetings. Its second meeting was held yesterday, when the decision to increase the parliamentary seating was made.