Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has called on the nine Opposition members of Parliament who have shown their support for him to continue representing their voters. Rabuka emphasized the importance of MPs representing the people over the party.
The deregistered FijiFirst political party garnered 200,246 votes in the last election, while the nine MPs collectively received 7,544 votes in 2022, as per Opposition member Mosese Bulitavu.
Bulitavu stated that the decision to support Rabuka was influenced by independent MPs who encouraged him to collaborate with the Government. However, he mentioned that joining another political party would require judicial interpretation since it is not explicitly addressed in the 2013 Constitution.
“We are a third block in Parliament,” Bulitavu said. “We have informed the Speaker this morning about our intention to support the PM, particularly in our participation in Parliament. I, personally, approached the PM following encouragement from independent MPs to work with the Government. We decided to be independent while supporting the PM. The idea of joining a political party is still unclear, and we might need the courts’ interpretation on that,” Bulitavu explained.
The nine MPs, including Aliki Bia, Ratu Josaia Niudamu, Penioni Ravunawa, Ioane Naivalurua, Naisa Tuinaceva, Alipate Tuicolo, Taito Rokomatu, and Viliame Naupoto, visited the PM on Sunday, July 7, to verbally declare their support for him.