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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SUVA 000253 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS TO EAP ACTING A/S MARCIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL FJ KDEM
 
SUBJECT: FIJI'S REGIME MIGHT REVEAL ITS ELECTIONS ROADMAP IN TWO 
WEEKS 
 
¶1.  (U) Fiji strongman Frank Bainimarama announced June 14 that his 
military-led regime plans to reveal a national roadmap to elections 
that will replace the defunct President's Political Dialogue Forum 
(PPDF) process.  Bainimarama said that the roadmap will be announced 
in a "couple of weeks."  He added that the United Nations and 
Commonwealth would be invited to sit in the new political forum. 
However, Bainimarama has yet to decide when to hold the proposed 
political discussion. 
 
¶2.  (U) Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told Deputy Chief of 
Mission Pruett that this is the same proposal Bainimarama promised 
to Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (D. - Am. Samoa) during his May 31 - 
June 2 visit to Fiji.  Sayed-Khaiyum emphasized that the roadmap has 
not been finalized and is still very much a "work in progress." 
Sayed-Khaiyum believes that a new constitution could be ready as 
early as 2013 in order to hold elections by September 2014. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Comment: Bainimarama's regime continues to govern by 
decree rather than to seek an inclusive and transparent process 
acceptable to all Fijian parties.  Neither the UN nor the 
Commonwealth seemed to be aware of this new invitation.  Bainimarama 
hopes to use the chimera of UN and Commonwealth participation to 
placate Fiji's civil society and to validate his desire to forestall 
elections until 2014.  End Comment. 
 
MCGANN