The Legislative Council of Fiji was the

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

precursor to the present-day

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, which came into existence when

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

became independent on 10 October 1970.

The first Legislative Council

Immediately after Fiji was ceded to the United Kingdom, on 10 October 1874, the first

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, Sir

Hercules Robinson Hercules George Robert Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead, (19 December 1824 – 28 October 1897), was a British colonial administrator who became the 5th Governor of Hong Kong and subsequently, the 14th Governor of New South Wales, the first Gove ...

, established an Executive Council with himself as President and comprising six other

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

. This was a temporary measure to make policy decisions necessary to found and legitimise the new Colonial Government and to carry out the day-to-day affairs of the Government. With the arrival of Sir Arthur Gordon, on 1 September 1875, a permanent machinery for governing the new colony was established. In addition to the Executive Council, Gordon established a Legislative Council composed entirely of nominated members, of whom six were official (public officers, usually heads of Government departments), including the

Governor of Fiji Fiji was a British Crown colony from 1874 to 1970, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth from 1970 to 1987. During this period, the head of state was the British monarch, but in practice his or her functions were normally exercised loca ...

, the Colonial Secretary (the day-to-day executive power), the

Chief Justice of Fiji The chief justice is Fiji's highest judicial officer. The office and its responsibilities are set out in Chapter 5 of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister Prime Mi ...

and the

Attorney General of Fiji The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in Fiji. The attorney-general is the chief law officer of the State, and has responsibility for supervising Fijian law and advising the government on legal matters. Like other members of the ...

; and four unofficial (representatives of the community not directly employed by the Government) members nominated by the Governor with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Thus all ten members of the Legislative Council were Europeans.

Elected European and Nominated Fijian Representation

The first step towards making the Council a popularly elected legislature was taken in 1904, when the council was reconstituted as a 19-member body consisting of the Governor, 10 official members appointed by the Governor, 6 elected members chosen by European males, and 2 Fijian members appointed by the Governor from a list of 6 nominees submitted by the

Great Council of Chiefs The Great Council of Chiefs ''(Bose Levu Vakaturaga'' in Fijian) was a constitutional body in Fiji from 1876 to March 2012. In April 2007, the council was suspended, due to an unworkable relationship with Frank Bainimarama, leader of an "interi ...

. Persistent demands by Europeans led to an increase in their representation to seven in 1914.

First Indian Nominated member

On 20 July 1916, the composition of the Legislative Council was increased to twelve nominated members of whom eleven were official members and one a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

not holding any such office, seven elected European members and two Fijian members. On 29 January 1917, Badril Maharaj, representing the Indian community, took the twelfth nominated seat in the Legislative Council. He served in the Legislative Council until 1923, when he resigned in opposition to the

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

but was re-nominated in 1926 and stayed on as a member until 1929.

Elected Indian Representation

On 1 May 1929, the

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

was extended to Indian males twenty-one years of age and over who met the same income,

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgrad ...

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

and nationality qualifications as Europeans. The new Legislative Council consisted of the Governor as President, not more than thirteen official members, three nominated Fijian members, six elected Europeans and three elected Indians. Europeans and Indians were elected from separate communal rolls, while the Fijians were nominated from a panel of four to six names submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs.

Racial parity of non-official members

The next major development took place in 1937, when the Legislative Council was enlarged to 32 members. Of these, 17 were official members appointed by the Governor. In addition, there were five non-official members from each of the three major ethnic groups (Fijians,

Indo-Fijians Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...

, and Europeans); Indo-Fijians and Europeans directly elected 3 members each, with a further 2 being appointed by the Governor; all 5 Fijian representatives were appointed by the Governor from a list of ten names submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs. In 1954,

Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Ratu Sir Josefa Lalabalavu Vanayaliyali Sukuna (22 April 1888 – 30 May 1958) was a Fijian chief, scholar, soldier, and statesman. He is regarded as the forerunner of the post-independence leadership of Fiji. He did more than anybody to lay ...

was appointed the first Speaker of the Legislative Council.

Women and Fijians enfranchised

In 1963, women were enfranchised and indigenous Fijians were empowered for the first time to vote directly for their representatives on the Legislative Council. The Legislative Council elected in 1963 had 37 members. There were 12 elected members, four from each of the Fijian, Indian and European groups chosen on a communal franchise. The Governor also nominated two from each of the communities. There were to be 19 official members. The Legislative Councillors of each race were permitted to select two from their fellows to the Executive Council. Qualifications to register as a voter disallowed illiterate adults to vote, permitted some people to choose between ethnic rolls and made no provision for Rotumans,

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...

s, Chinese and Part-Chinese to vote.

Universal adult suffrage

The Legislative Council elected in 1966 had 36 members. 25 seats represented ''

Communal constituencies {{Politics of Fiji Communal constituencies were the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General electors (Europeans, Chinese ...

'' (9 indigenous Fijians (Fijians and Pacific Islanders), 9 Indo-Fijians, and 7

General electors "General Electors" is the term formerly used in Fiji to identify citizens of voting age who belonged, in most cases, to ethnic minorities. The 1997 Constitution defined General Electors as all Fiji citizens who were not registered as being of ...

(

, Chinese), elected on closed electoral rolls by voters registered as members of their respective ethnic groups. A further 9 members were elected from cross-voting (from 1972 referred to as ''

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

'') constituencies – seats allocated ethnically (3 for each ethnic constituency) but elected by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

. The remaining 2 members were nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs. The president of the Legislative Council was H. Maurice Scott.

Responsible government

Responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

was not introduced until 1967. A four-member Executive Council had existed from 1904, but it was not a

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

in the modern sense: it was appointed by the colonial Governor and responsible to him alone. The first step towards adoption of the Westminster System of responsible government was taken in 1964 with the adoption of the

Member system The Member System, modeled on the cabinet system, was created by British authorities in Malaysia to provide self-governance. Like the Communities Liaison Committee, it drew on members of different communities, and was later described as setting a ...

, whereby 3 members of the Legislative Council (one from each ethnic constituency) were appointed to the Executive Council and given portfolio responsibilities supervising government departments. They were not "Ministers" in the modern sense, however, as they were still responsible only to the Governor and could not be dismissed by the Legislative Council. In 1967, however, a full ministerial system was adopted, with a Cabinet responsible to the Legislature.

Ratu Kamisese Mara Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, (6 May 1920 – 18 April 2004) was a Fijian politician, who served as Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the fi ...

(who was subsequently knighted in 1969) was appointed as the first

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

After independence

When Fiji became independent on 10 October 1970, the Legislative Council was replaced by the Fijian Parliament. A

grandfather clause A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

in the Constitution provided for the old Legislative Council to remain in office, with its name changed to the ''

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

'', pending the first post-independence

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

of 1972.

Changing Composition of Legislative Council

References

{{Reflist

Politics of Fiji Political organisations based in Fiji Government of Fiji History of Fiji Colony of Fiji