Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
Fijian lawyers and civil society are pushing back on a bill that would create the country's first-ever legal framework for a referendum.
The National Referendum Bill 2025 was tabled at the final sitting of the Fijian parliament for year on 4 December.
The bill sets out how a constitutional amendment would work, after the government managed to ease provisions that made Fiji's 2013 Constitution almost impossible to change.
At the beginning of the year, any amendment required a three-quarters majority vote in referendum: not just of the voters, but every registered voter in Fiji.
But that changed after a Supreme Court opinion in August opened the door for a referendum to require only a simple majority of that population.
Now, with this new pathway, the government is seeking to control exactly how those referenda take place.
The bill prohibits a number of campaigning activities during a referendum. Section 22 outright bans any badges, symbols, or other campaign materials from being made and distributed, while Section 23 bans canvassing at the doorstep.
The latter section effectively makes it a criminal offence to communicate to voters on whether they should vote, or ho
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