The president (head of state) is appointed for a 5-year term by the Great Council of Chiefs, a orthodox ethnic Fijian leadership body. The president in turn appoints the prime minister (head of government) and Cabinet from among the members of Parliament. Both houses of the legislature have some seats reserved by ethnicity. Other seats can be filled by persons of any ethnic group. The Senate is appointed; the House of Representatives is elected.

Fiji maintains an independent judiciary consisting of a Supreme Court, a Court of Appeals, a High Court, and magistrate courts. The judiciary remained independent through the coups and the consequent absence of an elected government. All but one of the five judges on the Supreme Court also is a serving judge in Australia or New Zealand.

There are four administrative divisions--central, eastern, northern and western--each under the charge of a commissioner. Ethnic Fijians have their own administration in which councils preside over a hierarchy of provinces, districts, and villages. The councils deal with all matters affecting ethnic Fijians.

The Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga) is made up of 55 hereditary chiefs, most of whom are nominated to the Council by their respective provincial councils. It is accomplished under the Fijian Affairs Act and recognized by the constitution.