Chapter 6: The Parliament. Chapter 6 of the Fiji Constitution is titled The Parliament. The five Parts, further subdivided into forty sections making up this chapter, set out the composition, functions, and powers of Fiji's bicameral legislature.
Chapters
1: The State
2: Compact
3: Citizenship
4: Bill of Rights
5: Social Justice
6: The Parliament
7: Executive Government
8: Great Council of Chiefs
9: Judiciary
10: State Services
11: Accountability
12: Revenue and Expenditure
13: Group Rights
14: Emergency Powers
15: Amendment of Constitution
16: Commencement, Interpretation and Repeals
17: Schedule Oaths and Affirmations
Part 1 of Chapter 6 sets out the general functions of the Parliament. It comprises sections 45 through 49 of the Constitution.
Section 45 vests legislative power in Parliament, which is declared to consist of the President, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. According to British constitutional theory, on which much of the Fijian Constitution is based, the British Parliament consists not only of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, but also the reigning Monarch, who is replaced by the President in the Fijian context. This had important constitutional ramifications. The Westminster parliamentary model followed in Fiji affirms the distinction between the executive and legislative branches of government, but does not separate them to the same extent as the American model does; there is considerable overlap. Although the office of the President is a largely honorary one, modeled on the British Monarchy, the Cabinet officially exercises executive authority in his name, and the President's status as a part of the Parliament is the source of the power of the Cabinet to initiate legislation.