Fiji's dictator Commodore Frank Bainimarama has confirmed that there will be no return to democracy after 2014. Oh, there will be elections - but according to Bainimarama, any elected government will be forced to implement the military's policies:
Fiji’s interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has restated that any elected government will do its work on the military’s terms.This is not democracy - it is simply a democratic facade over military rule. The result will be that the wishes of the Fijian people will be vetoed by an unelected group of military thugs - just as they were in 2006.Commodore Bainimarama has told the Fiji Brodcasting Corporation in Kadavu that the military will see that the government that comes into power after the 2014 election does not change the path to move Fiji forward.
He says they will prepare all leaders to be familiar with their targets before the elections.
Commodore Bainimarama says they will see that there’s no diversion from the path they have set.
The long-term solution to Fiji's woes is not a military veto, but the elimination of the military. Fiji has no need of an army (Samoa gets by fine without one), and the past 20 years shows clearly that the primary threat to Fiji's security and stability is its own military. If they're serious about "defending" their country, they should start by destroying their guns and going home.
