Fiji democracy now a distant vision

The military coup-installed government of Fiji has faced its final legal challenge this week, and lost. The December, 2006, junta has been ruled illegal by the Court of Appeal. The matter can be taken to the Supreme Court of Fiji, but that matters little for now as the Court of Appeal was unwilling to grant a stay to the ruling, and then...

Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, whose military government has been declared illegal by the Court of Appeal, revoked the constitution on Friday and sacked the country's judges, according to reports from the capital Suva. He decreed that fresh elections will not be held for five years.

--source: DPA, or if you'd prefer, here is the AP version.

So down goes any pretense of legitimacy. The architect of the junta, V. Bainimarama, remains head of the Kingdom's military.