Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

France positive about Fiji changes

Posted at 22:58 on 27 January, 2013 UTC

The French ambassador to Fiji has urged members of the public and the international community to recognise the positive changes that have taken place in Fiji over the past two years.

Gilles Montagnier says he was happy to see last year’s lifting of the Public Emergency Regulation, followed by the end to media censorship and the voter registration which resulted in over half a million people registered.

He was speaking in Suva just days after the military-backed regime dumped the draft constitution it had commissioned last year and imposed a political parties decree, which observers say is likely to eliminate all parties within the next three weeks.

The ambassador says as long as the modifications to the draft constitution do not deter the course towards free and fair elections and the return to democracy in Fiji, these are internal political issues.