Great Council of Chiefs
1876–2012 & 2023– Fijian constitutional body / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Great Council of Chiefs (Fijian: Bose Levu Vakaturaga) is a Fijian constitutional body. It previously existed from 1876 to March 2012 and was re-established in May 2023.[1]
In April 2007, the council was suspended, due to an unworkable relationship with Frank Bainimarama, leader of an "interim government" that came to power through military coup in December 2006.[2] It was formally disestablished by decree in March 2012.[3]
It was different from the House of Chiefs, a larger body that includes all hereditary chiefs, although membership of the two bodies overlapped to a considerable extent. The Great Council of Chiefs in its most recent form was established under Section 116 of the now-defunct 1997 Constitution, but it actually predated the Constitution by many years, having been established by the British colonial rulers as an advisory body in 1876, two years after Fiji was ceded to the United Kingdom.