As parliament gets ready to sit tomorrow, the Leader of the Opposition Ro Teimumu Kepa is yet to confirm whether the opposition will submit a nomination for the country’s President or support the re-election of sitting President Jioji Konrote.
Fijivillage has received confirmation that the SODELPA Parliamentary Caucus met earlier this afternoon and we have been told that a statement will be released shortly.
According to the constitution, the President holds office for three years, and is eligible for reappointment for one further term of three years, but is not eligible for reappointment after that.
President Konrote is eligible for another term and all indications are that Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama will nominate Konrote’s name again for reappointment for his last term as President.
According to the country’s constitution, the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition each submit a presidential candidate to the Speaker of Parliament, who then announces the nominees to MPs before parliament decides on the country's next president with a majority vote.
In the presidential election held in parliament on October 12th 2015, Konrote, nominated by the FijiFirst, got 31 votes, while the opposition's candidate, Ratu Epeli Ganilau received 14 votes.
Ratu Epeli Ganilau
It is not known whether the opposition will nominate another name for President tomorrow.
It is also not known whether the National Federation Party MPs will attend parliament tomorrow.
Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad says they cannot guarantee whether they will be in parliament for the election of the President tomorrow.
NFP Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad
He says they only received the notice of the parliament sitting yesterday.
When asked in the last hour, Prasad said that he will let us know later.
Parliament will sit at 9.30am tomorrow.
