Ana Mataiciwa Photo: Fiji Elections Office
Fiji's largest party in parliament, Fiji First, has called its suspension unfair and biased.
In announcing its decision, Fiji's acting Registrar of Political Parties said the former ruling party would not function as a political entity until they presented financial statements to the office.
Three smaller parties, none of whom are in parliament, have also been suspended by the Registrar.
Fiji's Acting Registrar of Political Parties Ana Mataiciwa has said the parties were suspended for 30 days because they breached section 26(2) of the Political Parties Act.
That requires all parties to provide to the Registrar, within three months after the end of each financial year, the record of accounts of its income, expenditure, assets and liabilities audited by an auditor certified by the Fiji Institute of Accountants.
FijiFirst has challenged the decision with its general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum calling it "grossly unfair and biased".
In a written complaint against Fiji's Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa, Sayed-Khaiyum said his party had confirmed last month that it would provide its audited accounts.
The suspension occurred Wednesday afternoon and resulted in all of FijiFirst's social media platforms being closed down.
The four parties now risk deregistration if they do not present the required documents within 60 days.
With all FijiFirst MPs suspended from parliament there is effectively no opposition and Sitiveni Rabuka's coalition party is ruling unopposed.
On Thursday, the parliamentary speaker's office said it had been notified of the suspension.
"In light of the suspension of the registration of the FijiFirst party, all twenty-four members are not entitled to take part in the proceedings of Parliament or any committee of Parliament for the duration of the suspension," a statement said.
"This also means that all twenty-four members are precluded from participating in all related activities such as representing Parliament in meetings, workshops, seminars, conferences, assemblies, and so forth, for the period of suspension until the suspension of the registration is lifted."
The statement added that all FijiFirst MPs "cannot be entitled to any remuneration from Parliament for the duration of the suspension."
Two coalition parties, the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) and the People's Alliance had not submitted their list of sources of funds either, but told The Fiji Times would do so soon.
These parties have submitted their accounts but not the list of sources of funds.
The other suspended parties are We Unite Fiji, All People's Party and New Generation.