Dinger said it is critical that Fiji realizes the importance of maintaining democracy as the right way to move forward.
He said the U.S. government values its democratic roots, which it believes are just as important in other countries.
“We continue to believe that democracy is the right way to go, that elections routinely without coups are the right way to go,” Dinger told more than 500 guests in attendance at the U.S. Independence Day celebrations here on Friday.
“American policy and coups don’t go along very well together so that has made it difficult but Fiji is still filled with wonderful people and great deal of potential,” he said. “And so Washington and I just hope that things settle down rapidly and you can achieve those potentials in the future.”
Dinger, who toured polling stations around the country in the 2006 general elections, said past elections have shown that there could be free and fair elections under the current Constitution.
He said there are a lot of ways a country could undertake democracy.
“The U.S. has one way and the Fiji Constitution has another, other countries have different ways. Many ways to get there but the key is to have the voice of the people heard so that the leadership is responsive to the people and has legitimacy from the people,” Dinger said.
“And that’s the problem Fiji has at the moment. An election under the current system will be fine by us to bring in a government with that kind of legitimacy and that they can address other issues that obviously need addressing in Fiji,” he said. “We are not fans of coups. But we believe very strongly that the United States will continue to advocate for a return to truly democratic governance at the earliest possible time.”
