The chairman is elected by the members of the Great Council of Chiefs and is expected to be politically impartial.
It also had a constitutional role in functioning as an electoral college to choose the President of the Republic, as well as 14 of the 32 Senators.
The following tables list the Fijian Affairs Ministers from 1967 to 1999, and Chairmen of the Great Council of Chiefs since that date.
In April 2007, the council was suspended by "interim prime minister" and military leader Frank Bainimarama, who had taken power in a coup in December 2006.
[3] In October 2008, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was named Minister of Indigenous (Fijian) Affairs, and therefore also Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs.