Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka expressed confidence that making certain amendments to the 2013 Constitution will be achieved.

When asked about the significance of the growing number of independent members of parliament voting to pass the new national budget and other bills tabled during the week, Rabuka said this makes it easier for him and the coalition to address more difficult issues.

Amending the constitution requires seventy-five percent of MPs voting in favour and time will tell if the Prime Minister can secure more support from the independents.

The government secured an overall 39 votes from Members of Parliament, including 10 independents, to pass the budget and nine other bills last week.

Rabuka sees this as a boost in cooperation on the floors of parliament.

“We cannot take that for granted. They are committed to continuing to battle for those that voted for them which means that before we put anything into a vote there has to be a lot of consultation between government members and those that are already supporting me or us so that even at the formulation stage of the motion and the bill we may need to be consulting with them.”

While the votes had been expected, given that nine of the 10 independent MPs had openly expressed support for the Prime Minister, one new vote came as a surprise.

Rabuka signals he will use these votes to his advantage.

“It also means that the more difficult issues that we are now considering constitutional as well the reconciliation bills and so on will probably be easier now because have the the willingness to cooperate with some of the MPs seating on the Opposition benches.”

However, the overall combined votes still fall short of the 75 percent needed for the coalition to signal that it is possible to make changes to the constitution, but Rabuka remains optimistic.

“The others who have not positively asserted their support for us are also amenable to work across the floor and extending a cooperative hand to the government at this time.”

The Prime Minister stated that the coalition respects the constitution since it was introduced in 2013 and they are following it as best they can however, they believe it was not properly promulgated by the people.