Wellington - Leaders of Pacific island countries who will meet next week to decide whether to suspend Fiji's military rulers from their 16-member regional forum are unanimous in their desire to see democracy restored there, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Tuesday.

Key rejected charges by Fiji's strongman leader, Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, who ousted the elected government in a bloodless coup two years ago, that New Zealand and Australia were bullying their smaller neighbour.

Forum leaders will meet in Papua New Guinea on January 27 to discuss sanctions against Fiji after Bainimarama reneged on a pledge to hold fresh elections and restore democracy by March.

Key said a range of options would be on the table, including suspending Fiji's membership, which would be a first for the 37-year-old regional grouping.

"I think there's a growing sense of frustration from Pacific leaders that the interim government needs to demonstrate that it's serious about undertaking elections and we're not seeing any demonstration at all of that," Key told a news conference.

Bainimarama, who boycotted the forum's annual summit last year, told a New Zealand radio station on Monday that he would not go to the Papua New Guinea meeting because of floods that ravaged his nation of about 930,000 people last week.

Key said there was widespread sympathy for the Fijian people, adding, "But realistically this was his opportunity to front up and given an explanation of the timetable and the roadmap towards restoring those elections.

"He's certainly not strengthening his hand by failing to turn up."

Key said there was no valid reason why an election could not be held this year. "We believe that Fiji has got to start demonstrating publicly and with a sense of legitimacy that they intend to restore the country towards democracy," he said. (dpa)