2 May 2012

Fiji politicians call for fully civilian government pre-polls

6:24 pm on 2 May 2012

Three of Fiji's leading politicians at the time of the coup in 2006 say there needs to be a fully civilian government in place to take Fiji towards elections promised for 2014.

Mick Beddoes, Mahendra Chaudhry and Laisenia Qarase made the call in a joint communique after they met the Forum's Ministerial Contact Group on Fiji on Tuesday.

Mr Beddoes says the word in Fiji is the regime is considering forming a political party and running in the polls.

"That's fine. We're not against anybody wanting to stand or contest the general election. What we're all about is, ok, let's have a level playing field. If in fact you're going to run for elections then you need to step out of the government seats and we need to hand that over to a fully civilian government."

Mick Beddoes says the primary task of the civilian government would be to prepare the country for the polls.

New Zealand and Australia have indicated they would reassess sanctions against the regime if key government posts are civilianised.