Fiji Labour Party
Encyclopedia
The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji
, which holds observer status with the Socialist International
. Most of its support at present comes from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian
, Dr. Timoci Bavadra
. It is organised into 21 branches. The party's current president is Jokapeci Koroi
.
The party has been elected to power twice, with Timoci Bavadra
and Mahendra Chaudhry
becoming prime minister in 1987 and 1999 respectively. On both occasions, the resulting government was rapidly overthrown by a coup.
was again falling apart and the right wing policies of the ruling Alliance Party had alienated it from the ordinary people. Dissatisfaction with Government policies had begun soon after the 1982 elections with a prolonged teachers' strike and a hunger strike by young graduates, who were longer guaranteed employment. In industrial disputes, the government sided with the employers. In November 1984, when the Government announced a wage freeze, instead of calling a national strike, the largest trade union in Fiji, the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA), decided, in March 1985 by a margin of 2914 votes to 326 votes, to " associate itself with any organisation, in pursuance of workers' rights." The Fiji Labour Party was launched on 6 July 1985 under the auspices of the Fiji Trade Union Congress, at the Fijian Teachers Association hall in Suva
.
and its candidate, Bob Kumar was elected Lord Mayor. It also won seats on the Labasa
, Nadi
, and Ba Town Councils, and subsequently secured a seat on the Lautoka
City Council at a by-election.
FLP's main test as a national political force came during the by-election for the North Central Indian National Seat in December 1985, following the resignation of Vijay R. Singh
. FLP decised to field Mahendra Chaudhry
, who was also the general secretary of the National Farmers Union
as its candidate. The NFP candidate was former Alliance Minister, James Shankar Singh
and the Alliance candidate was Uday Singh. Whereas, both the Alliance and NFP again used race as an issue, Labour campaigned on policies. The result of the election was: Uday Singh, 7848 votes; Mahendra Chaudhry, 7644 votes and James Shankar Singh 5003 votes. Despite Chaudhry's narrow loss, Labour was considered to have done well.
In June 1986, NFP-elected MP, Satendra Nandan
joined the FLP. One month later, he was joined by Davendra Singh
, of the NFP Youth Wing, who had defeated the official NFP candidate in an earlier by-election and Jay Raj Singh, another NFP-elected MP.
, released the results of a survey, which demonstrated that Labour could win 26 seats on its own. The main concern for those who agreed with Dr Singh was that a coalition with NFP would destroy Labour's multiracial image and undermine its efforts to win greater Fijian support. Dr Singh's survey was designed to rally anti-coalition support at the first FLP convention in Lautoka in July 1986, but Krishna Dutt
managed to persuade the convention to allow the Party's Management Board, "a free hand to negotiate possible areas of cooperation that might serve the Party's electoral strategy. " The Fiji Sun
s political columnist wrote, " The Party must choose between political expediency and clinging to the basic principles on which the Party was founded." Mahendra Sukhdeo
, a Labour Suva City Councillor, resigned in protest and joined the Alliance.
, to negotiate the final pact with the FLP, and two days later the National Council of the FLP authorised the Management Board to finalise the coalition details.
in April 1987 gave the coalition 28 of the 52 parliamentary seats. Its election was overwhelmingly supported by Indo-Fijians, but resented by many ethnic Fijians, only 9% of whom had voted for the coalition. Strikes and demonstrations followed, and on May 14 the army
seized power
.
) took the leadership of the party after her husband's death in 1989, but was deposed in 1991 by Mahendra Chaudhry. She later left the party (in 1995) after objecting to the direction in which Chaudhry was taking it. In the 1990s, the Labour Party lost most of its ethnic Fijian support, and the 1994 election
showed that its support among Indo-Fijians was declining as well. It won only 7 seats that year.
became unpopular amid admissions of womanizing and reports of high-level corruption in his administration. In the election
of 1999, the Labour Party swept to power, winning 37 seats in the 71 member House of Representatives
, an absolute majority. A further 21 seats were won by its partners in the People's Coalition
. Chaudhry became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.
On 19 May 2000, Chaudhry's government was overthrown in a putsch
led by George Speight
, a businessman whom the Labour government had fired from management of Fiji's lucrative pine
industry. The President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
, dismissed the government on 27 May, intending to assume executive authority himself in order to confront the rebels, but his plan misfired when he was pressured into resigning two days later by the Military commander, Commodore
Frank Bainimarama
.
to restore democracy were held in September 2001. The Labour Party contested the election on a platform calling for an independent inquiry into the 2000 coup, and for compensation to be paid to its victims, including police officers and military personnel. The party also backed medical cover for all workers, and proposed removing Value Added Tax
(VAT) from basic items; it had already instigated court proceedings to that effect. The party also proposed a five-year plan for economic recovery. Hurt by intra-party fighting and the defection of key figures including Tupeni Baba
, however, the party won the most votes (34.8%), but only 28 of the 71 seats in the House of Representatives (Fiji), four less than the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua
(SDL) of Laisenia Qarase
. The inability of the Labour Party and National Federation Party (NFP) (the only other political party with significant Indo-Fijian support) to reach a deal on exchanging "preferences" in Fiji's transferable voting system, and the NFP's decision to give its preferences to the SDL instead, probably cost Labour the election: despite their having been allies in the 1980s, the two parties have since become bitter enemies.
Since 2001, Mahendra Chaudhry has survived a leadership challenge and has rebuilt the Labour Party. In recent times, it has won several key byelections, and appears well-placed to mount a credible challenge to the Qarase government in 2006. Chaudhry's strained relationship with Prime Minister Qarase has prevented the Labour Party from being represented in the Cabinet
, despite the constitutional stipulation
that any political party with more than eight seats in the House of Representatives is entitled to proportionate representation in the Cabinet. On July 18, 2003 the Supreme Court of Fiji ruled that Qarase's exclusion of the Labour Party breached the constitution, and demanded that the situation be rectified. Negotiations, appeals, and counter-appeals followed, which delayed the appointment of Labour Party ministers. In June 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the Labour Party was entitled to 14 out of 30 Cabinet posts. Qarase announced that he would accept and implement the order, but his refusal to include Chaudhry himself in any cabinet lineup continued to stall negotiations about the composition of the cabinet, until Chaudhry announced towards the end of 2004 that the Labour Party was no longer interested in joining the government, and would remain in opposition for the remainder of the parliamentary term.
, following a scandal in which councillors were found to have granted taxi
bases to relatives and colleagues. Those suspended were the Deputy Mayor, Vijend Verma, Torika Ram, Aruna Devi, Atish Lekh Ram, Sunia Kunawave, Pravin Naidu, Hari Narayan, Divendra Chandra and Dhurup Chand. The last four submitted in their resignations from the Labour Party, saying they wanted nothing more to do with it. Naidu said he was resigning from the party in protest against the suspensions, which he said were a public relations ploy. The Labour Party was thought to be facing a stiff challenge to its control of the council in the municipal elections
of 22 October and 13 November, from the new Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance
, but in the end swept to a landslide victory, taking 12 of the 16 seats. The party also won a two-thirds majority in the Nasinu
Town Council, but was heavily defeated in the poll for the Suva City Council.
due in 2006. The platform calls for strategies to be enacted to ensure annual economic growth of 6%, price reductions for basic food items, and incentives for indigenous landowners to develop and profit from their land. The party also advocates electoral reform
, calling for the abolition or at least the reduction of Communal constituencies
, which are reserved for candidates and electors enrolled as members of specific ethnic groups. On 21 November, FLP Parliamentarian Perumal Mupnar
said that an FLP government would remove Value Added Tax (VAT) from all food items.
The FLP has been exploring coalition possibilities with other parties ahead of the election. Fiji's instant run-off voting system, known locally as the alternative vote, allows votes for a low-polling candidate to be transferred to other candidates, following an order specified by the candidate, which may be customised by the individual voter. Most political parties are seeing coalition arrangements that will enable them to maximise their chances.
Deputy Leader Poseci Bune announced on 3 October that the FLP would attempt to broaden its appeal to indigenous Fijians by fielding more indigenous candidates than in previous elections. The final decision about what seats to contest would be made after the conclusion of negotiations with potential coalition partners, such as the NAPF and the UPP. On 10 October, Mahendra Chaudhry announced that 222 applications had been received for the 71 parliamentary constituencies, many of them indigenous. He was not surprised, he said, by the increasing interest shown by indigenous Fijians, whom he described as "frustrated" with the SDL government. He also welcomed what he said was a good number of prospective female candidates, saying that more women were needed in an area that was dominated by men.
FLP secretary and parliamentarian Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi
announced on 9 January 2006 that the party would contest the forthcoming elections on a platform of completing the program it had begun in 1999-2000.
, denied that any such agreement was imminent, stating that the NFP had held no talks with FLP officials on any cooperative arrangements. NFP secretary Pramod Rae thought likewise: "We are open to discussion," he said. "But at this stage there is nothing. We will have to see what their party policies are, if they are similar then we will share preferences." On 3 October, however, Rae said that although a final decision had not been made, sentiment within the NFP was leaning towards contesting the 2006 election alone, rather than aligning itself with either the FLP or the ruling SDL.
Chaundry claimed on 19 October that NFP officials were unwilling to meet their FLP counterparts, and that the FLP would therefore concentrate on trying to maximise its own vote in the first count, rather than rely on votes transferred from other parties. Then, on 4 November, he rebuffed what he said was an NFP overture to exchange preferences in seven safe Indian communal constituencies
. Speaking at three sugar cane farming settlements in Ba Province, he said that what the NFP really wanted was for the FLP to give them those seven seats, all of which are presently held by the FLP. "They want something for nothing and their proposal is simply not on," Chaudhry said. However, NFP Assistant General Secretary Kamal Iyer denied that his party had presented any such proposal to the FLP, or to any party for that matter.
The FLP announced on 13 February 2006 that it would put aside its differences with the NFP provided that the NFP would do likewise. The NFP rejected the offer, calling it a deliberate tactic designed to mislead the supporters of both parties, Fiji Television
reported. The NFP strongly denied Chaudhry's claim that the NFP leader failed to appear at a scheduled meeting in late 2005.
A meeting between representatives of the two parties took place in the last week of February 2006. Conflicting media reports followed on whether the talks had proved fruitful or whether they had ended in deadlock.
(NAPF) and the United Peoples Party
. UPP leader Mick Beddoes
was hopeful, but cautioned that his party would not accept any deal that was not favourable to UPP candidates. On 7 October, however, he revealed that the UPP and the FLP were close to finalizing a draft agreement for consideration, and on 16 October he announced that the UPP executive had approved an electoral pact with the FLP the day before. "We share similar positions on issues of unemployment, poverty alleviation, health and other areas. It is also based on our belief in the rights of all our citizens and their need for equality under the law," Beddoes said, explaining his agreement with the FLP. On 2 December, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding
, agreeing to draw up a joint manifesto and to share preferences at the 2006 election. The agreement left both parties free to contest any or all of the 71 parliamentary seats, or to field joint candidates by mutual agreement. It also left open the possibility of other parties joining the coalition.
On 22 February 2006, the FLP and its UPP and Party of National Unity
(PANU) allies announced that the UPP's Mick Beddoes had been chosen to lead the negotiations with other parties, such as the NAPF and the NFP, concerning coalitions or preference deals.
On 13 March, FLP Parliamentarian Krishna Datt and NAPF President Ratu
Epeli Ganilau
both denied reports that their respective parties had agreed on Cabinet allocations in a coalition government. A secret agreement had allegedly provided for Ganilau to become Prime Minister, Chaudhry Minister for Finance, and FLP Deputy Leader Poseci Bune
Foreign Minister. Discussions were ongoing, they said, and no agreement had been made.
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, which holds observer status with the Socialist International
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
. Most of its support at present comes from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian
Fijian people
Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...
, Dr. Timoci Bavadra
Timoci Bavadra
Timoci Uluivuda Bavadra was a medical doctor who served for one month as the second Prime Minister of Fiji in 1987 and who founded the Fiji Labour Party....
. It is organised into 21 branches. The party's current president is Jokapeci Koroi
Jokapeci Koroi
Jokapeci Talei Koroi was a Fijian politician. She was currently the President of the Fiji Labour Party and a Senator. She was appointed to the Senate in 2002 as one of 8 nominees of the Leader of the Opposition, Mahendra Chaudhry....
.
The party has been elected to power twice, with Timoci Bavadra
Timoci Bavadra
Timoci Uluivuda Bavadra was a medical doctor who served for one month as the second Prime Minister of Fiji in 1987 and who founded the Fiji Labour Party....
and Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...
becoming prime minister in 1987 and 1999 respectively. On both occasions, the resulting government was rapidly overthrown by a coup.
Formation of the Fiji Labour Party
By 1985, the people of Fiji were yearning for a third force in Fiji politics, as the opposition National Federation Party (NFP)National Federation Party (Fiji)
The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party...
was again falling apart and the right wing policies of the ruling Alliance Party had alienated it from the ordinary people. Dissatisfaction with Government policies had begun soon after the 1982 elections with a prolonged teachers' strike and a hunger strike by young graduates, who were longer guaranteed employment. In industrial disputes, the government sided with the employers. In November 1984, when the Government announced a wage freeze, instead of calling a national strike, the largest trade union in Fiji, the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA), decided, in March 1985 by a margin of 2914 votes to 326 votes, to " associate itself with any organisation, in pursuance of workers' rights." The Fiji Labour Party was launched on 6 July 1985 under the auspices of the Fiji Trade Union Congress, at the Fijian Teachers Association hall in Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
.
Initial electoral success
FLP faced its first electoral test in municipal elections held three months later, when it won control of the Suva City CouncilSuva City Council
The Suva City Council is the municipal law-making body of the city of Suva, Fiji's capital. It consists of 20 Councillors, elected for three-year terms from four multi-member constituencies called wards...
and its candidate, Bob Kumar was elected Lord Mayor. It also won seats on the Labasa
Labasa
Labasa is a town in Fiji with a population of 27,949 at the most recent census held in 2007.Labasa is located in Macuata Province, in the north-eastern part of the island of Vanua Levu, and is the largest town on the island. The town itself is located on a delta formed by three rivers - the...
, Nadi
Nadi
Nadi is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. Nadi is multiracial with many of its inhabitants Indian or Fijian, along with a large transient population of foreign...
, and Ba Town Councils, and subsequently secured a seat on the Lautoka
Lautoka
Lautoka is the second largest city of Fiji and the second largest in the South Pacific. It is in the west of the island of Viti Levu, 24 kilometres north of Nadi, and is the second port of entry in Fiji, after Suva. Lying in the heart of Fiji's sugar cane growing region, it is known as the Sugar...
City Council at a by-election.
FLP's main test as a national political force came during the by-election for the North Central Indian National Seat in December 1985, following the resignation of Vijay R. Singh
Vijay R. Singh
Sir Vijay Raghubar Singh, KBE was an Indo-Fijian lawyer and politician who held Cabinet office in the 1960s and 1970s. Vijay Singh served in Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's government in a variety of positions, including Attorney-General, and was President of the Indian Alliance, a...
. FLP decised to field Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...
, who was also the general secretary of the National Farmers Union
National Farmers Union (Fiji)
The National Farmers Union is one of Fiji's largest trade unions. It was launched in Labasa in July 1978 under the auspices of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, with Mahendra Chaudhry as its first General Secretary...
as its candidate. The NFP candidate was former Alliance Minister, James Shankar Singh
James Shankar Singh
James Shankar Singh was a Fiji Indian farmer, businessman, social worker and politician who served as a Minister in the Alliance Government of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara...
and the Alliance candidate was Uday Singh. Whereas, both the Alliance and NFP again used race as an issue, Labour campaigned on policies. The result of the election was: Uday Singh, 7848 votes; Mahendra Chaudhry, 7644 votes and James Shankar Singh 5003 votes. Despite Chaudhry's narrow loss, Labour was considered to have done well.
In June 1986, NFP-elected MP, Satendra Nandan
Satendra Nandan
Dr Satendra Pratap Nandan is a Fiji Indian academic, writer and former politician.- Early life :Nandan was born in Nadi, Fiji. After completing his secondary education he studied in Delhi, Leeds, London and Canberra from where he obtained his PhD in English...
joined the FLP. One month later, he was joined by Davendra Singh
Davendra Singh
Davendra Singh was a Fiji Indian small businessman and politician who came into prominence when he challenged and defeated the official National Federation Party candidate in a by-election in March 1985....
, of the NFP Youth Wing, who had defeated the official NFP candidate in an earlier by-election and Jay Raj Singh, another NFP-elected MP.
Towards coalition with NFP
The narrow loss of the North Central by-election, warned labour to what awaited it in three-cornered elections in future. In September 1985, there had been talks between the NFP Youth Wing and Labour but Labour had refused to accept group affiliation. In December 1985, the President of the Ba Branch of the NFP had called for a coalition between NFP and FLP, but the first meeting on talks regarding a coalition took place with Western United Front (WUF) delegates on 6 June 1986 where WUF MP, Isikeli Nadalo argued that, "there should only be two political groups fighting the election." With the common aim of defeating the Alliance, a meeting between FLP, NFP and WUF was arranged for 26 June 1986.Opposition to Coalition
Not all Labour supporters were happy with the idea of a coalition with NFP. USP lecturer, Dr Anirudh SinghAnirudh Singh
Dr Anirudh Singh is a Fiji Indian academic who has undertaken research on muon implantation in solids but is best known for the stand he has taken on national issues, in particular those relating to social inequities in Fiji, resulting from the 1987 military take-over of the Fiji Government.- Early...
, released the results of a survey, which demonstrated that Labour could win 26 seats on its own. The main concern for those who agreed with Dr Singh was that a coalition with NFP would destroy Labour's multiracial image and undermine its efforts to win greater Fijian support. Dr Singh's survey was designed to rally anti-coalition support at the first FLP convention in Lautoka in July 1986, but Krishna Dutt
Krishna Datt
Krishna Datt, last name sometimes spelt as Dutt, is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. Born in Labasa, Vanua Levu in 1944, Datt served as Principal of Suva Grammar School, where he participated in the national teachers' strikes in 1985, which launched his political career with the Fiji Labour...
managed to persuade the convention to allow the Party's Management Board, "a free hand to negotiate possible areas of cooperation that might serve the Party's electoral strategy. " The Fiji Sun
Fiji Sun
The Fiji Sun is a daily newspaper published in Fiji. Owned by Sun News Limited, it was first published in September 1999. An internet edition is also published....
s political columnist wrote, " The Party must choose between political expediency and clinging to the basic principles on which the Party was founded." Mahendra Sukhdeo
Mahendra Sukhdeo
Mahendra Sukhdeo is a former Fiji Indian unionist and politician, who was one of the founding members of the Fiji Labour Party , but only a few months later resigned from the party due to disagreement with the leadership over the direction in which the party was being steered.Academic...
, a Labour Suva City Councillor, resigned in protest and joined the Alliance.
Coalition formalised
Despite grassroots opposition, the Labour Party moved closer to coalition. On 10 October 1986, agreement was reached for a coalition with WUF. On 9 November 1986, the NFP appointed former opposition leader, Jai Ram ReddyJai Ram Reddy
Jai Ram Reddy is an Indo-Fijian statesman, who has had a distinguished career in both the legislative and judicial branches of the Fijian government...
, to negotiate the final pact with the FLP, and two days later the National Council of the FLP authorised the Management Board to finalise the coalition details.
First Labour Government
The Fiji Labour Party formed its first government (in coalition with the National Federation Party) after electionsFiji election of 1987
General elections were held in Fiji between 4 and 11 April 1987. It was historic in that it marked the first electoral transition of power in Fijian history...
in April 1987 gave the coalition 28 of the 52 parliamentary seats. Its election was overwhelmingly supported by Indo-Fijians, but resented by many ethnic Fijians, only 9% of whom had voted for the coalition. Strikes and demonstrations followed, and on May 14 the army
Military of Fiji
The Republic of Fiji Military Forces are the military of the Pacific island nation of Fiji. With a total manpower of 3,500 active soldiers and 6,000 reservists, it is one of the smallest militaries in the world. However, most of its surrounding island nations have no militaries at all...
seized power
Fiji coups of 1987
The Fiji coups of 1987 resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, the deposition of Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji, and in the declaration of a republic...
.
1987 to 2000
Bavadra's widow, Kuini (later Adi Kuini SpeedKuini Speed
Adi Kuini Teimumu Vuikaba Speed was a Fijian chief and politician, who served as Deputy Prime Minister in 1999 and 2000....
) took the leadership of the party after her husband's death in 1989, but was deposed in 1991 by Mahendra Chaudhry. She later left the party (in 1995) after objecting to the direction in which Chaudhry was taking it. In the 1990s, the Labour Party lost most of its ethnic Fijian support, and the 1994 election
Fiji election of 1994
General elections were held in Fiji between 18 and 25 February 1994. This election, the second since Fiji had become a republic following two military coups in 1987, was brought about by splits within the ruling Fijian Political Party and by the withdrawal of the support of the Fiji Labour Party,...
showed that its support among Indo-Fijians was declining as well. It won only 7 seats that year.
The People's Coalition and the Coup of 2000
The fortunes of the Labour Party revived in the later 1990s, as the government of Prime Minister Sitiveni RabukaSitiveni Rabuka
Major-General Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, OBE, MSD, OStJ, is best known as the instigator of two military coups that shook Fiji in 1987. He was later democratically elected the third Prime Minister, serving from 1992 to 1999...
became unpopular amid admissions of womanizing and reports of high-level corruption in his administration. In the election
Fiji election of 1999
General elections were held in Fiji between 8 and 15 May 1999. They were the first election held under the revised Constitution of 1997, which instituted a new electoral system and resulted in Mahendra Chaudhry taking office as Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.-Electoral system:Previously,...
of 1999, the Labour Party swept to power, winning 37 seats in the 71 member House of Representatives
House of Representatives (Fiji)
The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...
, an absolute majority. A further 21 seats were won by its partners in the People's Coalition
People's Coalition (Fiji)
The People's Coalition was an alliance of three political parties in Fiji, formed in March 1999 to contest the parliamentary election to be held in May that year...
. Chaudhry became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.
On 19 May 2000, Chaudhry's government was overthrown in a putsch
Fiji coup of 2000
The Fiji coup of 2000 was a complicated affair involving a civilian putsch by hardline Fijian nationalists against the elected government of a non-native Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, on 19 May 2000, the attempt by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to assert executive authority on 27 May, and...
led by George Speight
George Speight
George Speight , occasionally known as Ilikimi Naitini, was the principal instigator of the Fiji coup of 2000, in which he kidnapped thirty-six government officials and held them from May 19, 2000 to July 13, 2000...
, a businessman whom the Labour government had fired from management of Fiji's lucrative pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
industry. The President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Kamisese Mara
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...
, dismissed the government on 27 May, intending to assume executive authority himself in order to confront the rebels, but his plan misfired when he was pressured into resigning two days later by the Military commander, Commodore
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
Frank Bainimarama
Frank Bainimarama
Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, CF, MSD, OStJ, Fijian Navy, known commonly as Frank Bainimarama and sometimes by the chiefly title Ratu , is a Fijian naval officer and politician. He is the Commander of the Fijian Military Forces and, as of April 2009, Prime Minister...
.
Post-coup developments
ElectionsFiji election of 2001
The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a High Court decision on 15 November 2000, following the failure of the political upheaval in which the government had been deposed and the constitution suspended in May that year. On 1 March 2001, the Appeal Court upheld the decision. An election to...
to restore democracy were held in September 2001. The Labour Party contested the election on a platform calling for an independent inquiry into the 2000 coup, and for compensation to be paid to its victims, including police officers and military personnel. The party also backed medical cover for all workers, and proposed removing Value Added Tax
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...
(VAT) from basic items; it had already instigated court proceedings to that effect. The party also proposed a five-year plan for economic recovery. Hurt by intra-party fighting and the defection of key figures including Tupeni Baba
Tupeni Baba
Tupeni Lebaivalu Baba is a Fijian academic and politician, who founded the now-defunct New Labour Unity Party. Most members of this party later merged with several other centrist parties to form the Fiji Democratic Party...
, however, the party won the most votes (34.8%), but only 28 of the 71 seats in the House of Representatives (Fiji), four less than the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua
Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua
The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua is a political party in Fiji...
(SDL) of Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase is a Fijian political figure. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment...
. The inability of the Labour Party and National Federation Party (NFP) (the only other political party with significant Indo-Fijian support) to reach a deal on exchanging "preferences" in Fiji's transferable voting system, and the NFP's decision to give its preferences to the SDL instead, probably cost Labour the election: despite their having been allies in the 1980s, the two parties have since become bitter enemies.
Since 2001, Mahendra Chaudhry has survived a leadership challenge and has rebuilt the Labour Party. In recent times, it has won several key byelections, and appears well-placed to mount a credible challenge to the Qarase government in 2006. Chaudhry's strained relationship with Prime Minister Qarase has prevented the Labour Party from being represented in the Cabinet
Cabinet (Fiji)
Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime...
, despite the constitutional stipulation
Constitution of Fiji
The 1997 Constitution of Fiji was the supreme law of Fiji from its adoption in 1997 until 2009 when President Josefa Iloilo purported to abrogate it. It was also suspended for a period following the 2000 coup d'état led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama....
that any political party with more than eight seats in the House of Representatives is entitled to proportionate representation in the Cabinet. On July 18, 2003 the Supreme Court of Fiji ruled that Qarase's exclusion of the Labour Party breached the constitution, and demanded that the situation be rectified. Negotiations, appeals, and counter-appeals followed, which delayed the appointment of Labour Party ministers. In June 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the Labour Party was entitled to 14 out of 30 Cabinet posts. Qarase announced that he would accept and implement the order, but his refusal to include Chaudhry himself in any cabinet lineup continued to stall negotiations about the composition of the cabinet, until Chaudhry announced towards the end of 2004 that the Labour Party was no longer interested in joining the government, and would remain in opposition for the remainder of the parliamentary term.
2005 Municipal poll
On 7 July 2005, the Labour Party suspended all of its councillors on the Lautoka City CouncilLocal government of Fiji
Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces; the self-governing island of Rotuma and its dependencies lie outside any of the four divisions. Each division is headed by a Commissioner, appointed by the Fijian government...
, following a scandal in which councillors were found to have granted taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
bases to relatives and colleagues. Those suspended were the Deputy Mayor, Vijend Verma, Torika Ram, Aruna Devi, Atish Lekh Ram, Sunia Kunawave, Pravin Naidu, Hari Narayan, Divendra Chandra and Dhurup Chand. The last four submitted in their resignations from the Labour Party, saying they wanted nothing more to do with it. Naidu said he was resigning from the party in protest against the suspensions, which he said were a public relations ploy. The Labour Party was thought to be facing a stiff challenge to its control of the council in the municipal elections
Fiji municipal election, 2005
Municipal elections were held for 11 of Fiji's twelve city and town councils on 22 October 2005. In the capital city, however, elections for the Suva City Council were postponed till 12 November, owing to the death of two candidates; the death of a candidate in Lautoka also resulted in the...
of 22 October and 13 November, from the new Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance
Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance
The Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance is a Fijian political party that operates only on the municipal level, in the city of Lautoka. It was founded early in 2005 with a view to contesting the municipal elections to the Lautoka City Council, scheduled for 22 October 2005...
, but in the end swept to a landslide victory, taking 12 of the 16 seats. The party also won a two-thirds majority in the Nasinu
Nasinu
Nasinu is an urban area on the island Viti Levu in Fiji. It is officially designated a "Town" despite its population . Nasinu is the most populous municipality in Fiji, having overtaken that of Suva , and is one of Fiji's fastest-growing towns...
Town Council, but was heavily defeated in the poll for the Suva City Council.
Towards 2006
At its conference on 28 July 2005, the Labour Party approved a platform for the electionFiji election of 2006
The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. The latest election was held on 6-13 May 2006. Acting President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi issued a proclamation on 2 March, effective from 27 March, dissolving Parliament...
due in 2006. The platform calls for strategies to be enacted to ensure annual economic growth of 6%, price reductions for basic food items, and incentives for indigenous landowners to develop and profit from their land. The party also advocates electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...
, calling for the abolition or at least the reduction of Communal constituencies
Communal constituencies (Fiji)
Communal constituencies have been the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General Electors vote for a candidate of their own respective ethnic groups, in constituencies that have...
, which are reserved for candidates and electors enrolled as members of specific ethnic groups. On 21 November, FLP Parliamentarian Perumal Mupnar
Perumal Mupnar
Perumal Mupnar is a Fijian politician of Indian descent, who held the Yasawa Nawaka Open Constituency in the House of Representatives for the Fiji Labour Party in the parliamentary election of 2001...
said that an FLP government would remove Value Added Tax (VAT) from all food items.
The FLP has been exploring coalition possibilities with other parties ahead of the election. Fiji's instant run-off voting system, known locally as the alternative vote, allows votes for a low-polling candidate to be transferred to other candidates, following an order specified by the candidate, which may be customised by the individual voter. Most political parties are seeing coalition arrangements that will enable them to maximise their chances.
Deputy Leader Poseci Bune announced on 3 October that the FLP would attempt to broaden its appeal to indigenous Fijians by fielding more indigenous candidates than in previous elections. The final decision about what seats to contest would be made after the conclusion of negotiations with potential coalition partners, such as the NAPF and the UPP. On 10 October, Mahendra Chaudhry announced that 222 applications had been received for the 71 parliamentary constituencies, many of them indigenous. He was not surprised, he said, by the increasing interest shown by indigenous Fijians, whom he described as "frustrated" with the SDL government. He also welcomed what he said was a good number of prospective female candidates, saying that more women were needed in an area that was dominated by men.
FLP secretary and parliamentarian Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi
Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi
Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi, is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. He was one of the youngest members to be elected into Parliament in 1992. He has represented the Nadroga Indian Communal Constituency, which he won for the Fiji Labour Party in the parliamentary elections of 1992, 1994, 1999, 2001, and...
announced on 9 January 2006 that the party would contest the forthcoming elections on a platform of completing the program it had begun in 1999-2000.
Negotiations with the NFP
On 18 August 2005, officials of the FLP and the National Federation Party (NFP) held what they described as a "courtesy call". Preferential voting was among the topics discussed, but no serious negotiations were entered into, with both parties indicating that such a move would be premature. Several major news services reported in early September, however, that the two parties were close to reaching a deal. Comments by FLP officials led credence to these rumours, but on 7 September, the NFP President, Raman Pratap SinghRaman Pratap Singh
Raman Pratap Singh is a Fijian lawyer and politician of Indian descent. His father, Ram Jati Singh, was a member of the Legislative Council, elected on the National Federation Party ticket. Raman contested the 1994 election on the NFP ticket, winning the Bua Indian seat in the House of...
, denied that any such agreement was imminent, stating that the NFP had held no talks with FLP officials on any cooperative arrangements. NFP secretary Pramod Rae thought likewise: "We are open to discussion," he said. "But at this stage there is nothing. We will have to see what their party policies are, if they are similar then we will share preferences." On 3 October, however, Rae said that although a final decision had not been made, sentiment within the NFP was leaning towards contesting the 2006 election alone, rather than aligning itself with either the FLP or the ruling SDL.
Chaundry claimed on 19 October that NFP officials were unwilling to meet their FLP counterparts, and that the FLP would therefore concentrate on trying to maximise its own vote in the first count, rather than rely on votes transferred from other parties. Then, on 4 November, he rebuffed what he said was an NFP overture to exchange preferences in seven safe Indian communal constituencies
Communal constituencies (Fiji)
Communal constituencies have been the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General Electors vote for a candidate of their own respective ethnic groups, in constituencies that have...
. Speaking at three sugar cane farming settlements in Ba Province, he said that what the NFP really wanted was for the FLP to give them those seven seats, all of which are presently held by the FLP. "They want something for nothing and their proposal is simply not on," Chaudhry said. However, NFP Assistant General Secretary Kamal Iyer denied that his party had presented any such proposal to the FLP, or to any party for that matter.
The FLP announced on 13 February 2006 that it would put aside its differences with the NFP provided that the NFP would do likewise. The NFP rejected the offer, calling it a deliberate tactic designed to mislead the supporters of both parties, Fiji Television
Fiji Television
Fiji Television Limited is Fiji's television network. It was founded on 15 June 1994 as the first permanent television broadcasting network in the country, although television had previously been introduced temporarily in October 1991 to broadcast the Rugby World Cup as well as Cricket World Cup....
reported. The NFP strongly denied Chaudhry's claim that the NFP leader failed to appear at a scheduled meeting in late 2005.
A meeting between representatives of the two parties took place in the last week of February 2006. Conflicting media reports followed on whether the talks had proved fruitful or whether they had ended in deadlock.
Negotiations with NAPF, UPP
The FLP also attempted to negotiate coalition preferences with the National Alliance PartyNational Alliance Party of Fiji
The National Alliance Party of Fiji is a Fijian political party. It was formally registered on 18 January 2005 by Ratu Epeli Ganilau, as the claimed successor to the defunct Alliance Party, which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987 under the leadership of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Ganilau's...
(NAPF) and the United Peoples Party
United Peoples Party (Fiji)
The United Peoples Party is a political party in Fiji, whose support base lies chiefly among General Electors - Fiji Islanders who belong to ethnic minorities, such as Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders, as well as multiracial people...
. UPP leader Mick Beddoes
Mick Beddoes
Mick Malcolm Millis Beddoes, widely known as Mick Beddoes, is a Fijian politician and businessman from Nadi, who has led the United Peoples Party since 2000, and was the Leader of the Opposition at the time of the military coup of 5 December 2006...
was hopeful, but cautioned that his party would not accept any deal that was not favourable to UPP candidates. On 7 October, however, he revealed that the UPP and the FLP were close to finalizing a draft agreement for consideration, and on 16 October he announced that the UPP executive had approved an electoral pact with the FLP the day before. "We share similar positions on issues of unemployment, poverty alleviation, health and other areas. It is also based on our belief in the rights of all our citizens and their need for equality under the law," Beddoes said, explaining his agreement with the FLP. On 2 December, the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
, agreeing to draw up a joint manifesto and to share preferences at the 2006 election. The agreement left both parties free to contest any or all of the 71 parliamentary seats, or to field joint candidates by mutual agreement. It also left open the possibility of other parties joining the coalition.
On 22 February 2006, the FLP and its UPP and Party of National Unity
Party of National Unity (Fiji)
The Party of National Unity is a Fijian political party founded by Ratu Sairusi Nagagavoka in 1998; as of 2006, Nagagavoka is the President of the party. A well-known member of the party was Apisai Tora...
(PANU) allies announced that the UPP's Mick Beddoes had been chosen to lead the negotiations with other parties, such as the NAPF and the NFP, concerning coalitions or preference deals.
On 13 March, FLP Parliamentarian Krishna Datt and NAPF President Ratu
Ratu
Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...
Epeli Ganilau
Epeli Ganilau
Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Ganilau, MC, MSD, is a Fijian soldier and statesman, who currently heads the National Alliance Party of Fiji. His career has previously encompassed such roles as Commander of the Fiji Military Forces and Chairman of the Bose Levu Vakaturaga...
both denied reports that their respective parties had agreed on Cabinet allocations in a coalition government. A secret agreement had allegedly provided for Ganilau to become Prime Minister, Chaudhry Minister for Finance, and FLP Deputy Leader Poseci Bune
Poseci Bune
Poseci Waqalevu Bune is a Fijian politician, who has served as Deputy Leader of the Fiji Labour Party . From June to December 2006, he served as Minister for the Environment, one of nine FLP ministers, in the multiparty Cabinet of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase...
Foreign Minister. Discussions were ongoing, they said, and no agreement had been made.