General electors

"General Electors" is the term formerly used in Fiji to identify citizens of voting age who belonged, in most cases, to ethnic minorities. The 1997 Constitution defined General Electors as all Fiji citizens who were not registered as being of Fijian, Indian, or Rotuman descent. Also included were citizens who did qualify to be registered in the above categories, but who chose not to be. Persons of biracial or multiracial ancestry could opt to enroll either as General Electors, or as descendants of any of the other three groups to which they had an ancestral claim. General Electors were thus a diverse electorate, whose members included Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders, and many smaller groups. They were allocated 3 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower and more influential house of the Fijian Parliament.

The 1997 Constitution of Fiji was a compromise between what it saw as the ideal of universal suffrage, and the practical reality of the need to protect the communal interests of Fiji's diverse ethnic communities. The House of Representatives reflected this compromise, with 46 members chosen for "communal electorates" by voters on closed electoral rolls comprising citizens of ethnic Fijian (23), Indo-Fijian (19), and Rotuman (1) ancestry, with a further 3 reserved for General Electors. Another 25 members were open to citizens of all races, and were elected by universal suffrage.

Over the years, the exact definition of General Electors varied, as did their parliamentary representation. Prior to 1994, biracial and multiracial voters were also included automatically. That year, James Ah Koy, a popular politician of ethnic Fijian and Chinese descent, successfully lobbied for a law change to allow him to register as a Fijian, rather than as a General Elector. The 1997 Constitution codified this change, giving citizens of mixed ancestry multiple options for registration. (Citizens were allowed to register for only one category, but for a small fee could change their registration at any time).

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