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
Chapter 8: Executive Government. Chapter 8 of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji is titled Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga). Its single section (Section 116) enshrines in the constitution a powerful feudal institution that has played a pivotal role in Fiji's history.
This chapter, the shortest in the Fiji Constitution, stipulates that the Great Council of Chiefs, or Bose Levu Vakaturaga in Fijian, originally established under the Fijian Affairs Act, continues in existence, and that its membership, functions, operations, and procedures are as prescribed by that act.
The Great Council of Chiefs is a very old body, which has its roots in the chiefly councils established by Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau in the 1800s. It was retained as a consultative body by the British colonial rulers. It had no formal political role, however, until Fiji became independent in 1970. Under the independence constitution, it gained the authority to nominate 8 of the then 22 Senators.