A Fijian academic believes Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's failed attempt to garner enough parliamentary support to change the country's 2013 Constitution "is only the beginning".
Last week, Rabuka fell short in his efforts to secure the support of three-quarters of the members of parliament to amend sections 159 and 160 of the constitution.
The prime minister's proposed amendments also sought to remove the need for a national referendum altogether. While the bill passed its first reading with support from several opposition MPs, it failed narrowly at the second reading.
Jope Tarai, an indigenous Fijian PhD scholar and researcher at the Australian National University, told Pacific Waves that "it is quite obvious that it is not going to be the end" of Rabuka's plans to amend the constitution.
However, he said that it is "something that might take a while" with less than a year before the 2026 elections. "So, the repositioning towards the people's priorities will be more important than constitutional review."
