The chances of Fiji re-establishing a constitution under a caretaker prime minister, who is also the military leader, are not impossible but are "stacked against it", University of Otago constitutional law specialist Assoc Prof Andrew Geddis says.
President Ratu Josefa Iloilo reappointed Frank Bainimarama and his nine ministers to the interim government on Saturday, a day after he suspended the constitution and fired the judges who declared the military leader's earlier government illegal.
The Fiji Times' website yesterday reported Mr Bainimarama saying, in his address to the nation on Saturday night, elections would be held by September 2014 under an electoral system based on equal suffrage.
Prof Geddis said Mr Bainimarama controlled the military and it appeared he was using that power to get what he wanted.
While he was not an "expert" on Fijian politics, Prof Geddis said it appeared Mr Bainimarama had "at least a measure of support from inside Fiji itself".
However, it was worrying that the man to whom the president had given ultimate power also had the army behind him.
"It's dangerous. The precedent it establishes is not a good one."
While it was not impossible that a new constitution could be created, chances were "stacked against it", as anyone with an opposing view had no chance to get their point across, he said.
The reappointment of Mr Bainimarama was a sham and the events that surrounded his appointment took his country down an even darker path, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said yesterday.
The extent to which Mr Bainimarama "seems prepared to go to entrench himself and the military in power is unsettling", Mr McCully said.
"Abrogating the constitution, dismissing judges and now introducing emergency measures that curb the media and deny citizens freedom of political expression is a sorry recipe that has been tried by dictators in a number of other countries, always with tragic consequences.
"The United Nations and Commonwealth have rightly condemned these recent developments, which I'm sure will also be viewed with concern across the region."
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has upgraded its warning to travellers.
"There is some risk to your security in Fiji and we advise caution," it said.
