Part 1 Executive Authority
- See main articles: List of Presidents of Fiji, List of Vice-Presidents of Fiji
Part 1 of Chapter 7, comprising Sections 85 through 88, establishes the offices of President and Vice-President and briefly summarizes their functions and responsibilities, on which the remainder of the chapter elaborates.
Sections 85 through 87 declare the President to be Fiji's Head of State, in whom executive authority is "vested." Later sections reveal this authority to be largely, though not entirely, symbolic. The President is further declared to be the symbol of the unity of the State, and the Commander-in-Chief of the military forces.
Section 88 establishes the office of Vice-President, who is empowered to take over the functions of the President in the event of the President being absent or otherwise unable to carry out his duties. If the President and Vice-President are both unable to perform Presidential duties, the Speaker of the House of Representatives may carry out the necessary functions.
In the event of the death, resignation, or incapacitation of the President, a new President and Vice-President must be appointed within three months. The Vice-President is authorized to exercise the functions of the presidency while the office is vacant. The Vice-President may be a candidate to fill the vacancy, but does not automatically succeed to it. This stipulation is designed to remove any vested interest a disloyal Vice-President might potentially have of producing a vacancy in the Presidency.
In practice, on the two occasions that the Presidency has fallen vacant (as of September 2004), the Vice-President has, after performing the President's functions in an interim capacity, been duly appointed to fill the vacancy. Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau died in 1993 and was succeeded by his Vice-President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Mara was deposed in the Fiji coup of 2000, but after the Constitution was restored and Mara declined reappointment, his Vice-President, Josefa Iloilo was appointed to succeed him.
Read more about this topic: Constitution Of Fiji: Chapter 7
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