The Fijian Nationalist Party (FNP) was a political party 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...

, founded in 1975 by Sakeasi Butadroka

Sakeasi Butadroka

Sakeasi Butadroka was a Fijian politician noted for his strident ethnic nationalism. Originally elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the ruling Fijian Alliance in the parliamentary election of 1972, he was expelled from the Alliance for his public attacks against the presence of...

, a parliamentarian

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...

 who defected from the then-ruling Fijian Alliance

Fijian Alliance

The Alliance Party, was the ruling political party in Fiji from 1966 to 1987. Founded in the early 1960s, its leader was Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the founding father of the modern Fijian nation...

, on a "Fiji for the Fijians!" platform. Its support peaked in the parliamentary election

Fiji election of 1977 (March)

General elections were held in Fiji between 19 March and 2 April 1977. A split in the ethnic Fijian vote, which saw 25 percent defecting to Fijian Nationalist Party of Sakeasi Butadroka, an extremist organization which advocated the "repatriation" of Indo-Fijians to India, led to the narrow defeat...

 of March 1977, when it took 24.4 percent of the popular vote. Though it won only one seat in the 52-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...

, most of its votes came at the expense of the Alliance, allowing 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...

 to win a plurality in the House and precipitating a constitutional crisis

Fiji constitutional crisis of 1977

Fiji's parliamentary election of March 1977 precipitated a constitutional crisis, which was the first major challenge to the country's democratic institutions since independence in 1970....

. The party changed its name in 1992 to the Fijian Nationalist United Front Party (FNUPF), and occasionally won parliamentary seats (three in 1992

Fiji election of 1992

General elections were held in Fiji between 23 and 30 May 1992. It was the first election held since two military coups in 1987 had severed Fiji's 113-year old constitutional links with the British Monarchy, and later Fijian Monarchy, and ushered in a republic.The 1992 elections were the first to...

, one in 1999

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,...

), but never regained the level of support it had enjoyed in the 1970s.

In the late 1990s, the FNUFP merged with the Vanua Tako Lavo Party

Vanua Tako Lavo Party (Fiji)

The Vanua Tako Lavo Party was a strongly nationalistic political party in Fiji, which was led by Iliesa Duvuloco. It advocated institutionalized political supremacy for indigenous Fijians. In the late 1990s, it merged with Sakeasi Butadroka's Fijian Nationalist Party to form the Nationalist Vanua...

, which shared its strong opposition to the constitution

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....

 adopted in 1997-1998. The merged party, known as the Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party, was implicated by Maciu Navakasuasua

Maciu Navakasuasua

Maciu Navakasuasua is a Fijian public figure and former political organizer. An explosives expert, Navakasuasua said that on behalf of the Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party, an extremist party which advocated the "repatriation" to India of Indo-Fijians, two prominent businessmen had tried to hire...

, who was convicted of offences related to the Fiji coup of 2000

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...

, in the planning of the coup which deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...

.