2009 Constitutional Crisis
In April 2009, the Court of Appeal ruled the removal of the democratic government during his 2006 military coup was illegal. Bainimarama stepped down on 10 April 2009 as interim prime minister.
President Ratu Josefa Iloilo then announced that he had abolished the constitution, assumed all governing power and revoked all judicial appointments.
After abolishing the constitution and sacking the judiciary, President Ratu Josefa Iloilo reappointed Commodore Frank Bainimarama as prime minister only 24 hours later. On 24 April, the President made him Companion of the Order of Fiji in recognition of his "eminent achievement and merit of highest degree and service to Fiji and to humanity at large".
On 3 November 2009, Bainimarama banished the envoys of Australia and New Zealand giving them 24 hours to leave the country.
The controversy stemmed from Bainimarama's move to appoint Sri Lankan judges to replace the country's judiciary, which he ousted in April 2009.
Read more about this topic: Frank Bainimarama
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“A crisis unmasks everyone.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)