SUVA - The deputy of ousted Fijian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry said yesterday that the former leader was totally unsuitable for governing the country and should leave politics for the sake of national unity.
Tupeni Baba said a meeting of members of Chaudhry's Labour Party had called on Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister, to step down in favour of a government of national unity led by an indigenous Fijian.
"Mahendra Chaudhry has been found by the people of this country to be totally unsuitable for governing this country," Baba said. "We have called for him to step down not only from our party but everywhere," Baba told Australian radio in Suva.
Chaudhry's People's Coalition Government is in limbo after being overthrown by a racially inspired coup last year and after a court ruling last week which declared Fiji's post-coup, military-backed interim Government illegal.
The move against Chaudhry came as interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase called his cabinet together to decide how to respond to the court ruling.
Qarase has pledged to support a return to constitutional rule but has yet to give any firm indication of how or when that would be achieved.
Fiji is also awaiting a decision by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, expected tomorrow, on how Fiji can be steered back to constitutional rule.
Chaudhry has called for his Government to be reinstated.
- REUTERS
Transcripts: Fiji Court of Appeal judgment
(9 minutes, Courtesy FM96)
Herald Online feature: the Fiji coup
Full text: Fiji High Court rules in favour of Chaudhry