SUVA (ABC News / Pacific Media Watch): Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has announced an end to emergency laws that have been in place in the country since 2009, ABC News reports.
In his New Year's address to the nation, Commodore Bainimarama said the Public Emergency Regulations would end from Saturday.
The regulations give police and the military extended powers, censor the media, and restrict public assembly.
Commodore Bainimarama stressed public order would be maintained.
He also said that he would be announcing a nationwide consultation process for a new constitution for the country in the next few weeks.
"The constitution must establish a government that is founded on an electoral system that guarantees equal suffrage - a truly democratic system based on the principle of one person, one vote, one value," he said.
"We will not have a system that will classify Fijians based on ethnicity; and, our young men and women, those 18 years old must have the right to vote."
Commodore Bainimarama has been under heavy pressure to return the country to democracy, after delaying parliamentary election several times.
Relations between Fiji and Australia and New Zealand have soured since Commodore Bainimarama seized power in a coup in 2006.
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