The Fiji Labour Party has called on New Zealand's prime minister, John Key, who is due in Suva tomorrow, not to apply double standards of democracy.
Mr Key said there were quite a few countries that had a form of democracy he wouldn't see as perfect, but added that his visit to Fiji was to show support for the restoration of democracy.
Photo: Fiji Labour Party
The FLP said this implied that for Mr Key anything short of the standard for New Zealand was quite acceptable.
In a statement, the FLP leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, said Fiji continued to have autocratic rule behind the strappings of democracy, which made its democracy a farce.
He said Fiji's media was so cowed and intimidated by the regime's army-backed top guns and its repressive Media Decree that it was often scared to run articles criticising the government and its policies.
Mr Chaudhry, who was the prime minister until he was ousted in the 2000 coup, served as the military regime's finance minister after the 2006 coup.
In the last election, his party won no seats.