22 Dec 2018

Speaker of Fiji Parliament has died

3:52 pm on 22 December 2018

The Speaker of Fiji's Parliament Jiko Luveni has died, Fiji media report.

Fiji's Speaker of Parliament, Dr Jiko Luveni

Fiji's Speaker, Dr Jiko Luveni Photo: Fiji Department of Information

The Fiji Sun reports Dr Luveni is understood to have died this morning after a short illness.

She was 72.

Dr Luveni was beginning her second term as Speaker after taking up the position in 2014 in Fiji's newly established Parliament following eight years of military-led rule.

She was the first woman to serve in the position in Fiji.

Before entering politics she was a dentist and held other roles in public health, later serving in the Bainimarama-led interim government as Minister of Health and Minister of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation.