General elections were held in Fiji

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...

 between 15 and 29 April 1972, the first since independence from the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1970. They were characterised by the lack of rancour between racial groups, typical of the 1966 general election and the 1968 by-elections.

The result was a landslide for the Alliance Party of the Prime Minister, 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...

, which won 33 of the 52 seats, and surprised many observers by capturing almost 25 percent of the Indo-Fijian vote. The Indo-Fijian-dominated National Federation Party

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...

, led by Sidiq Koya

Sidiq Koya

Siddiq Moidin Koya was a Fijian Indian politician and Opposition leader. He succeeded to the leadership of the mostly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party on the death of the party's founder, A.D. Patel, in October 1969, remaining in this post until 1977...

, won the remaining 19 seats.

The election re-affirmed the political allegiances of the past, with the Alliance Party winning all the Fijian Communal seats, with 82% of the votes, as well as all the General Communal seats. The National Federation Party (NFP), on the other hand, won all the Indian Communal sets with 73% of the votes. Voter turnout was 85.2% in the communical seats.

After the election, cooperation between the two major parties continued with R.D. Patel

R.D. Patel

Raojibhai Dahyabhai Patel was an Indo-Fijian lawyer and politician, who was better known as the younger brother of A.D. Patel. To distinguish between the two, he was generally referred to as R.D. Although he lacked his brother's charisma and oratorical skills, he was much loved and admired by...

 of the NFP elected the speaker of the Alliance dominated House of Representatives.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Alliance Party	388,550	57.5	33
National Federation Party 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...	241,866	33.9	19
Fijian Independent Party	1,535	0.2	0
Independents	43,521	6.4	0
Invalid/blank votes	14,201
Total	689,673	100	52
Source: Nohlen et al.