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The Senate of Fiji was the upper chamber of Parliament. It was abolished by the 2013 Constitution of Fiji, after a series of military coups. It was the less powerful of the two chambers; it could not initiate legislation, but could amend or veto it. The Senate's powers over financial bills were more restricted: it could veto them in their entirety, but could not amend them. The House of Representatives could override a Senatorial veto by passing the bill a second time in the parliamentary session immediately following the one in which it was rejected by the Senate, after a minimum period of six months. Amendments to the Constitution were excepted: the veto of the Senate was absolute. Following the passage of a bill by the House of Representatives, the Senate had 21 days (7 days in the case of a bill classified as "urgent") to approve, amend, or reject it; if at the expiry of that period the Senate had done nothing about it, it was deemed to have passed the bill. == Composition of the Senate == The Senate had 32 members. Formally, they were appointed by the President for five-year terms coinciding with the term of the House of Representatives. Constitutionally, however, the President was required to accept the nominees of specified institutions. 14 Senators were chosen by the Bose Levu Vakaturaga (Great Council of Chiefs), though in practice it had chosen to delegate this prerogative to Fiji's 14 ''Provincial Councils,'' each choosing one Senator. A further 9 Senators were chosen by the Prime Minister and 8 by the Leader of the Opposition. The one remaining Senator was selected by the Council of Rotuma, a Fijian dependency. From among their own members, the Senators used to elect a President and Vice-President, whose roles were similar to those of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. As of September 2006, the President of the Senate was Ratu Kinijoji Maivalili; the Vice-President was Hafiz Khan. They were chosen in June 2006 to replace Taito Waqavakatoga and Kenneth Low, both of whom had retired from the Senate. The built-in near-majority of Fijian chiefs in the Senate gave them an effective veto over contentious social legislation, as well as constitutional amendments, provided they voted as a block, as they would almost certainly be joined by enough other senators to muster a majority. In addition, any changes to clauses of the constitution guaranteeing indigenous Fijian ownership and control of most of the land had to be approved by 9 of the 14 Senators chosen by the Great Council of Chiefs, as well as by a majority in the Senate as a whole. Senators, like their fellow-parliamentarians from the House of Representatives, could be appointed to the Cabinet - the executive arm of government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Senate of Fiji」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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