Fiji's military ruler postponed elections promised for March 2009 to return the island to democracy after ousting the government in a bloodless coup 20 months ago, a news report said Friday.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama told the Fijivillage news Web site in an exclusive interview that the March 2009 timetable for elections was unachievable because much-needed electoral reforms cannot be completed and implemented over the next eight months.
"There is no date set for an election," Bainimarama told the news site.
Calls seeking comment from Fiji government officials were not answered late Friday.
Bainimarama has said he aims to root out corruption and reshape the South Pacific nation's race-based political system before holding a vote.
The self-appointed prime minister seized power in a coup d'etat in December 2006 _ the fourth coup in the Pacific island nation in the last 21 years.
Bainimarama pledged elections by March 2009 at a Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tonga last August. He said he gave the date because Tongan Prime Minister Fred Sevele told him the international community would be flexible if more time was needed, the Fijivillage report said.
"I came up with March 2009 at the forum on the understanding if there needs to be an extension in time the international community will be very flexible," Bainimarama was quoted as saying. "Unfortunately for me that date was added in and written in blood by everyone in the international community."
He said his government's initial plan was to hold elections in 2010.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Australian counterpart Stephen Smith and four South Pacific foreign ministers met Bainimarama in the capital Suva this week amid concerns he would renege on his election date promise.
Peters and Smith said at the end of their visit Wednesday there were no impediments in the way of March elections, except for the "political will" of Bainimarama.
"How can you have reform if you haven't got a vehicle to put it into law _ a mandated Parliament," Peters said.
Under Fiji's 1997 Constitution, indigenous Fijians, ethnic Indians and other races vote in separate race-based constituencies. Bainimarama has said this system must change before Fiji can hold a free and fair election.
Fiji's population is split between the indigenous Fijian majority and ethnic Indians, introduced by former colonial power Britain in the 19th century to work on sugar cane plantations.
The interim government has said a national charter is being drafted as a set of principles to end corruption, weed out the use of racist policies to win popular support, and ensure greater social cohesion between the racial groups that make up Fiji.
Bainimarama has stressed the military will be the watchdog of the charter, and any government elected by the people will have to abide by it.
Opponents of the charter say it may be used to usurp the nation's 1997 Constitution.
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