Fiji's military ruler defied international pressure to announce elections by today, confirming that he would not hold them for at least five years and setting the stage for his country's ouster from a South Pacific bloc.
"I think we made it quite clear that is not going to happen," military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama told Australia's Sky News television in an interview broadcast today. "There will be no elections until September 2014," he added.
Bainimarama ousted the ethnic Fijian-dominated government in a 2006 coup and installed himself as prime minister. He has vowed to rewrite the constitution and electoral laws to remove what he says is discrimination against the country's large ethnic Indian minority before holding elections. Critics say he shows little sign of being willing to give up power.
The Pacific Islands Forum, a key 16-nation bloc that includes Australia and New Zealand, had given Fiji until today to announce elections for 2009 or be suspended from the group. New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said there would be "an immediate trigger" for Fiji's suspension once the deadline passed at the end of the day.
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