Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

New Fiji party applies for registration

Posted at 06:08 on 26 February, 2013 UTC

Reports from Fiji say an application for a new party has been lodged with the Registrar of Political Parties.

The Fijivillage website reports two officials of the proposed Social Democratic Liberal Party have carried boxes full of papers to the Registrar’s Office.

They are from the former SDL Party which was disbanded last month shortly after the regime issued a decree for all parties to re-register under new terms within a month.

That deadline passed 11 days ago, with only the Labour Party and the National Federation Party applying.

Once the regime has decided which, if any, parties have been approved, it is expected to convene a Constituent Assembly to approve a new constitution.

The regime has this year largely ignored its own decreed schedule but not altered the target of late March for the new constitution to be ready.