Great Council of Chiefs (Fiji)

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The Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga in Fijian) is a constitutional body in the Republic of the Fiji Islands. It consists of 52 hereditary chiefs, most of whom are titled Ratu (if male) or Adi (if female). It is established under Section 116 of the 1997 Constitution, but it actually predates the Constitution by many years, having been established by the British colonial rulers as an advisory body when Fiji was a British colony. The Constitution merely formalizes and codifies functions that the Council had long performed.

According to the Constitution, the Great Council of Chiefs has two major powers:

It functions as an electoral college to elect the President and Vice President of Fiji, for a five-year term. In certain circumstances prescribed by the Constitution, it may remove the President or Vice-President from office, in the case of felony, incompetence, negligence, or being unable to carry out their constitutional duties.
It chooses 14 of the 32 members of the Senate. (Although Senators are ceremonially appointed by the President, his role is a mere formality: the Constitution obligates him to accept and appoint the 14 nominees chosen by the Council, as well as 18 Senators nominated by other institutions (Prime Minister 9, Leader of the Opposition 8, Rotuman Islands Council 1). Filling nearly half of the seats in the Senate, the nominees of the Great Council of Chiefs have an effective veto if they vote as a block, as they are almost certain to be joined by enough of the other Senators to muster a majority. They do not always vote as a block, however: Fiji's chiefs are a very diverse body.

In addition to these constitutionally mandated functions, the Great Council of Chiefs has other roles that may from time to time be prescribed by law. In addition, it is considered almost compulsory for the government to consult and secure the approval of the Council before making major changes to the Constitution, although nothing in the Constitution requires it to do so.

From the late 1980s onwards, the Great Council of Chiefs was compromised by manipulation from the government. Since the coup of 2000, however, it has worked to regain its independence. In 2001 it dismissed 1987 coup leader and former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka from the chairmanship, in the midst of allegations about his possible involvement in the coup of 2000. It has also cut its former ties with the Fijian Political Party (which it originally sponsored in the early 1990s, and has declared its intention to eschew party politics in the future, although individual members of the Council will, of course, remain free to participate in politics as individuals.