Suva City Council Special Administrator Usaia Gonewai is calling for fairer parliamentary representation.
In his presentation to the Special Parliamentary Committee on Constitution Amendment, Gonewai is questioning how the proposed 46 seats were calculated under the Constitution Amendment Bill.
Gonewai says representation must reflect population, ensuring municipal communities have a stronger voice in Parliament.
He questioned whether parliamentary seats were allocated based on population or land area, arguing that densely populated municipalities need fair representation.
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Gonewai used Suva’s population of about 102-thousand as an example, saying the city could warrant around five seats based on his calculations.
He also questioned why some constituencies with smaller populations could have representation comparable to, or greater than, that of larger urban communities.
Gonewai says municipal areas are central to Fiji’s economic activity and their concerns must be adequately represented in Parliament.
He is urging the committee to consider how seats are distributed to ensure communities are represented according to where people live.
The special Parliamentary committee will continue its consultations on the proposed Constitution Amendment Bill in Nadi tomorrow.