 | Parts of this article (those related to Towns and cities) need to be updated. The reason given is: Requires update per P:WP.(April 2023) |
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Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces. Each province has a provincial council.
Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces; the self-governing island [1] [2] [3] of Rotuma and its nearby islets lie outside any of the four divisions. Each division is headed by a Commissioner, appointed by the Fijian government.
The divisions are basically agglomerations of provinces and have few administrative functions of their own, but serve to foster cooperation among the member provinces for providing services.
| Division (Capital) | Province | Area km2 [4] | Population (2007) | Population (2017) [5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central (Suva) | Naitasiri | 1666 | 160,760 | 177,678 |
| Namosi | 570 | 6,898 | 7,871 | |
| Rewa | 272 | 100,995 | 108,016 | |
| Serua | 830 | 18,249 | 20,031 | |
| Tailevu | 955 | 55,692 | 64,552 | |
| Northern (Labasa) | Bua | 1378 | 14,176 | 15,466 |
| Cakaudrove | 2816 | 49,344 | 50,469 | |
| Macuata | 2004 | 72,441 | 65,983 | |
| Eastern (Levuka) | Kadavu | 478 | 10,167 | 10,897 |
| Lau | 487 | 10,683 | 9,602 | |
| Lomaiviti | 411 | 16,253 | 15,657 | |
| Western (Lautoka) | Ba | 2634 | 231,760 | 247,708 |
| Nadroga-Navosa | 2385 | 58,387 | 58,931 | |
| Ra | 1341 | 29,464 | 30,432 | |
| 46 | 2,002 | 1,594 | ||
Each province has a provincial council which may make bylaws and impose rates (local taxes), subject to the approval of the Fijian Affairs Board, a government department. The board must also approve the appointment of the Roko Tui , or executive head of the provincial council, who is usually a high chief, although in recent years, commoners have sometimes been chosen.
The provinces used to have direct input into national affairs through the Great Council of Chiefs and the Senate. The Great Council of Chiefs was a traditional body which advised the government on indigenous affairs and also functioned as an electoral college to elect the President and Vice-President; 42 of the 55 members of the Great Council were chosen by the provincial councils, three from each province. In addition, 14 of the 32 members of the Senate, the upper house of the Fijian Parliament, were chosen by the provincial councils (one Senator each) and confirmed by the Great Council of Chiefs. The Military-backed interim government that seized power in a military coup on 5 December 2006 formally abolished the Great Council of Chiefs in 2012, and the 2013 Constitution promulgated by the regime similarly abolished the Senate. This effectively ended provincial input into national government affairs.
The island of Rotuma, north of the main archipelago, is a self-governing dependency according to the Rotuma Act promulgated in 1927. The Fiji government includes it in the Eastern Division for statistical purposes (such as the census), but it has its own council, which is empowered to legislate on most local matters. Like a province, Rotuma used to choose (through its council) 3 members of the Great Council of Chiefs and 1 Senator.
Below the provincial level, districts and villages, based on extended family networks, have their own chiefs and councils. Indigenous Fijian administration is based on the koro, or village, headed by a Turaga ni Koro elected or appointed by the villagers. Several koros combine to form a Tikina, two or more of which comprise a province. In addition, municipal governments have been established for the cities of Suva and Lautoka, and for ten towns. Each has a city or town council elected for a three-year term, presided over by a Mayor chosen by the councillors from among their own members. On 15 February 2006, the government announced legislation to change the local government term of office from three years to four.
Provincial administration, and its subdivisions, cater for ethnic Fijians, town and city councils cater for urban residents of all races. Local authorities have also been established for rural areas, with advisory powers, and these provide a voice to people of all races outside the provincial structure. The Ministry of Regional Development ensures that Fiji's rural areas are provided with the access to opportunities and basic amenities that are enjoyed by the urban areas. This is done through its district administrations which are involved in community capacity building, coordinating the development projects like upgrading of rural roads, upgrading of cane access roads, development of roads for access to cash crops and other capital programs in their respective districts. They also attend to some statutory functions such as registration of births, deaths and marriages, liquor licences and acting as Third Class Magistrates.
Fiji is divided into 17 districts, each with a district officer and five sub-districts with assistant district officers. The districts generally centre on towns and cities, but some follow provincial or tikina boundaries. The districts are: Ra, Tavua, Ba, Nadi, Nadarivatu, Keiyasi, Nausori, Navua, Vunidawa, Suva, Korovou, Macuata, Savusavu, Bua, Taveuni, Seaqaqa, Saqani, Tukavesi, Kadavu, Rotuma, Lomaiviti, Lautoka. [6]
| This article needs to be updated.(June 2015) |
| City or Town | Date of incorporation | Mayor (Party) | Councillors | Area (square kilometers) | Population (2017) |
| Ba | 1939 | Parveen Bala (NFP) | 15 | 327 | 13,825 |
| Labasa | 1939 | Pradeep Singh (FLP) | 12 | 360 | 22,204 |
| Lami | 1977 | Tevita Buatalevu (SDL) | 12 | 680 | 20,217 |
| Lautoka (city) | 1929 | Rohit Kumar (FLP) | 16 | 1607 | 60,925 |
| Levuka | 1877 | George Gibson (Balance) | 8 | 67 | 3,277 |
| Nadi | 1946 | Shalesh Mudliar (NFP) | 15 | 577 | 62,214 |
| Nasinu | 1999 | Rajeshwar Kumar (FLP) | 21 | 4500 | 79,782 |
| Nausori | 1931 | Vikash Singh (NRA) | 12 | 167 | 50,398 |
| Savusavu | 1969 | Ram Pillay (SRC) | 9 | 800 | 5,494 |
| Sigatoka | 1959 | Ratu Isikeli Tasere (SDL/NFP) | 10 | 127 | 8,940 |
| Suva (city) | 1881 | Ratu Peni Volavola (SDL) | 20 | 2048 | 78,520 |
| Tavua | 1992 | Chandra Singh (TRLTA) | 9 | 100 | 7,592 |
| FLP: Fiji Labour Party; NFP: National Federation Party; NRA: Nausori Ratepayers' Association; SDL: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua; SRC: Savusavu Ratepayers and Citizens Party; TRLTA: Tavua Ratepayers, Landowners, and Tenants Association | |||||
The politics of Fiji take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. Fiji has a multiparty system with the Prime Minister of Fiji as head of government. The executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Fiji. The judiciary is mostly independent of the executive and the legislature.
Rotuma is a self-governing heptarchy, generally designated a dependency of Fiji. 'Rotuma' commonly refers to Rotuma Island, the only permanently inhabited and by far the largest of all the islands in the Rotuma Group. Officially, the Rotuma Act declares that Rotuma consists of Rotuma Island as well as its neighbouring islands, rocks, and reefs across the entire Rotuma Group. The dependency is situated around 500 km west of the French islands of Wallis and Futuna and a similar distance north of the Fijian mainland. Its capital is Ahau, a hamlet consisting of a number of colonial-era buildings. Rotuma exists as a dependency of Fiji but itself contains its own socioreligious pene-enclave known traditionally as Faguta where the chiefs and their villages adhere to the practices of worship, festival dates, and French-based writing system of the Marists. Faguta's special character was effectively agreed to by all Rotuma's chiefs in 1871 in the Treaty of Hamelin.
The Senate of Fiji was the upper chamber of Parliament. It was abolished by the 2013 Constitution of Fiji, after a series of military coups. It was the less powerful of the two chambers; it could not initiate legislation, but could amend or veto it. The Senate's powers over financial bills were more restricted: it could veto them in their entirety, but could not amend them. The House of Representatives could override a senatorial veto by passing the bill a second time in the parliamentary session immediately following the one in which it was rejected by the Senate, after a minimum period of six months. Amendments to the Constitution were excepted: the veto of the Senate was absolute. Following the passage of a bill by the House of Representatives, the Senate had 21 days to approve, amend, or reject it; if at the expiry of that period the Senate had done nothing about it, it was deemed to have passed the bill.
Articles about people, places, things, and concepts related to or originating from Fiji, include:
The Great Council of Chiefs is a Fijian constitutional body. It previously existed from 1876 to March 2012 and was re-established in May 2023.
Fijians are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and English and share a common history and culture.
Lautoka is the second largest city in Fiji. It is on the west coast of the island of Viti Levu, in the Ba Province of the Western Division. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane-growing region, the city has come to be known as the Sugar City. Covering an area of 32 square kilometres, it had a population of 71,573 at the 2017 census, the most recent to date.
The House of Chiefs in Fiji consists of the Fijian nobility, composed of about seventy chiefs of various ranks, majority of which are related. It is not a formal political body and is not the same as the former Great Council of Chiefs, which was a political body with a prescribed constitutional role, although the membership of the two bodies did overlap to a great extent.
The Council of Rotuma is a municipal body on the island of Rotuma, a Fijian dependency. Owing to the unique character of Rotuma, the powers of this council are greater than those of other municipal bodies in Fiji and in some ways it approximates a legislative body, though it is in every way subordinate to the Parliament of Fiji.
Rotuma Day is an annual celebration on the island of Rotuma, a Fijian dependency. It falls on May 13, the anniversary of the island's cession to the United Kingdom in 1881.
The Provinces of Fiji are the 14 administrative units into which the country is divided, particularly in relation to the provision of resources and services to the indigenous Fijian population by the Fijian Affairs Board. They are more or less derived from the major clan affiliations for each provincial region.
The Eastern Division of Fiji is one of Fiji's four divisions. It consists of Kadavu Province, Lau Province, Lomaiviti Province and Rotuma.
The Attorney-General is a political and legal officer in Fiji. The attorney-general is the chief law officer of the State, and has responsibility for supervising Fijian law and advising the government on legal matters. Like other members of the Fijian Cabinet, the attorney-general is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.
Rewa is a province of Fiji. With a land area of 272 square kilometers, it includes the capital city of Suva and is in two parts — one including part of Suva's hinterland to the west and a noncontiguous area to the east, separated from the rest of Rewa by Naitasiri Province. The province had a population of 108,016 at the 2017 census, making it Fiji's third most populous.
The Fiji Football Association is the governing body of football in Fiji. It came into existence in 1961. It is the overseeing body of the Fiji National Team and its leagues.
Dr John Charles Fatiaki is a career medical practitioner who was chosen by the Rotuma Island Council to be their representative in the Fijian Senate. He is the younger brother of former Chief Justice of Fiji Daniel Fatiaki.
Kadavu Province is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji, and forms part of the Eastern Division, which also includes the provinces of Lau, Lomaiviti and Rotuma. Kadavu also belongs to the Burebasaga Confederacy, a hierarchy of chiefs from southern and western Fiji with Roko Tui Dreketi of Rewa as the paramount chief.
The sport of football in the country of Fiji is run by the Fiji Football Association. The association administers the national football team as well as the FPL. The national team has had little international success.
Verata is a tikina in Fiji's Tailevu Province. It is made up of several sub-districts or Tikina makawa, namely: Verata, Namalata, Tai, Vugalei, and Taivugalei.
Charles Walker was a Fijian civil servant and Alliance Party politician and diplomat.
