United Peoples Party (Fiji)
Encyclopedia
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. Since 2001, its president and parliamentary leader has been Mick Beddoes
, the sole member elected from the party to the 71-member House of Representatives
in the general election
that year, when it won 0.5 percent of the vote. The party claims to follow moderate, centrist policies.
Beddoes is assisted by three vice-presidents, each of whom overseas one of the three constituencies reserved for General Electors. The 2006 conference, held on 18-19 March, chose Loto Feifei (North Eastern
), David Blakelock (Suva City
), and Margaret Rounds (West Central
).
members of the ANC had left to join the Fijian Association Party
. Both groups were fragments of the old Alliance Party
, the party which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987.
In 2003, the party announced a drive to broaden its base to attract support from Fiji's major ethnic communities, indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. On 2 August, Beddoes announced a decision to rename the party. The name "General" was associated with Fiji's minority communities, he said, and the party wanted a more inclusive name. The party's general secretary, Bruce Rounds, said on 2 November that a growing number of people from all ethnic groups had expressed interest in joining the party, and it had decided, in principle, to field candidates in all 71 constituencies in the general election
expected to be held in 2006. The 2004 name change is one step the party has taken to recast itself as a multiracial party.
, a proposed tribunal with the authority (subject to presidential approval) to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the coup d'état
which deposed the elected government in 2000. Calling the proposal a recipe for disaster which would create a "legal framework" to pardon, at will, anyone convicted of coup-related offence, party leader Mick Beddoes said on 16 May 2005 that it would lead to the prevalence of the law of the jungle and would licence any would-be political activist who wanted to engage in coups, to do so. He accused the government of pandering to its junior coalition partner, the Conservative Alliance
, to which many of those convicted of coup-related offenses belong. On 14 June, the party announced the beginning of a Yellow Ribbon Campaign to promote a petition aimed at forcing the bill to be withdrawn, or at least significantly amended. On 17 June, Beddoes accused Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase
of lying about widespread public support for the bill, claiming that the "small group of dissenters" that the Prime Minister said existed were, in fact, the minority who knew what the bill contained. He said that asking the Fijian people to support the legislation without making them aware of its contents was "a deliberate attempt to mislead the Fijian community."
, would be a candidate for the party at the general election
expected to be held in 2006.
The Fijian electoral system
employs the so-called alternate ballot, whereby votes cast for low-polling candidates may be transferred to higher-polling candidates according to the ranking specified by the candidate, which may be customized by the individual voter. It is usual, therefore, for parties to negotiate preference deals before elections. Mick Beddoes emphasized on 8 September 2005 that any such agreement with the Fiji Labour Party
(FLP) or the National Alliance Party
(NAPF) would have to be favourable to UPP candidates. They did not want to be caught, he said, in a situation in which the UPP merely collected votes to benefit other parties. He also said that some executives of the UPP were opposed to making any deals with other parties.
On 18 September, however, Beddoes announced that he was negotiating with FLP about the possibility of an electoral coalition. He also intended to negotiate with the National Alliance Party and possibly the National Federation Party
, he said. On 16 October, he said that negotiations between the UPP and the FLP had finalized a deal, and that the UPP executive had endorsed it 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. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding
on 2 December, agreeing to exchange preferences at the 2006 election. The agreement called for a joint manifesto to be drawn up, but left open the possibility of each party contesting any or all of the 71 seats separately, or of fielding joint candidates by mutual agreement. The agreement also left open the possibility of other parties joining the coalition.
Beddoes had earlier announced on 10 October that the party hoped to field a full slate of candidates, comprising 36 indigenous Fijians
, 26 Indo-Fijians, and 1 Rotuma
n, with each of the country's eight principal minority communities represented by one candidate each. Negotiations towards forming a coalition with other parties were ongoing, he said, but no final decision had been taken.
The coalition agreement with the FLP did not exclude deals with other parties, Beddoes emphasized on 15 December 2005. Talks with other parties about electoral pacts were continuing, he said.
The party won at the Fiji election of 2006
1 % and 2 out of 71 seats.
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...
, whose support base lies chiefly among General Electors
General Electors (Fiji)
"General Electors" is the term used in Fiji to identify citizens of voting age who belong, in most cases, to ethnic minorities. The Constitution defines General Electors as all Fiji citizens who are not registered as being of Fijian, Indian, or Rotuman descent. Also included are citizens who do...
- Fiji Islanders who belong to ethnic minorities, such as Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders
Banaba Island
Banaba Island , an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 300 km east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.5 km², and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81...
, as well as multiracial people. Since 2001, its president and parliamentary leader has been 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...
, the sole member elected from the party to 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...
in the general election
Fiji 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...
that year, when it won 0.5 percent of the vote. The party claims to follow moderate, centrist policies.
Beddoes is assisted by three vice-presidents, each of whom overseas one of the three constituencies reserved for General Electors. The 2006 conference, held on 18-19 March, chose Loto Feifei (North Eastern
North Eastern (General Electors Communal Constituency, Fiji)
North Eastern General Communal is an electoral division of Fiji, one of 3 communal constituencies reserved for General Electors, an omnibus category including Caucasians, Chinese, and all others whose ethnicity is neither indigenous Fijian nor Indo-Fijian...
), David Blakelock (Suva City
Suva City (General Electors Communal Constituency, Fiji)
Suva City General Communal is an electoral division of Fiji, one of 3 communal constituencies reserved for General Electors, an omnibus category including Caucasians, Chinese, and all others whose ethnicity is neither indigenous Fijian nor Indo-Fijian...
), and Margaret Rounds (West Central
West Central (General Electors Communal Constituency, Fiji)
West Central General Communal is an electoral division of Fiji, one of 3 communal constituencies reserved for General Electors, an omnibus category including Caucasians, Chinese, and all others whose ethnicity is neither indigenous Fijian nor Indo-Fijian...
).
History of the UPP
The party, originally called the United General Party, was formed in the late 1990s by a merger between the General Voters Party and the General Electors Association, formerly the All National Congress (ANC). This followed an earlier move in which ethnic FijianFijian 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...
members of the ANC had left to join the Fijian Association Party
Fijian Association Party
The Fijian Association Party is a former political party in Fiji. It played a significant role in Fijian politics throughout the 1990s, but lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives in the parliamentary election of 2001....
. Both groups were fragments of the old Alliance Party
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...
, the party which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987.
In 2003, the party announced a drive to broaden its base to attract support from Fiji's major ethnic communities, indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. On 2 August, Beddoes announced a decision to rename the party. The name "General" was associated with Fiji's minority communities, he said, and the party wanted a more inclusive name. The party's general secretary, Bruce Rounds, said on 2 November that a growing number of people from all ethnic groups had expressed interest in joining the party, and it had decided, in principle, to field candidates in all 71 constituencies in the general election
Fiji 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...
expected to be held in 2006. The 2004 name change is one step the party has taken to recast itself as a multiracial party.
Party policies
The United Peoples Party has been a vocal critic of the government's legislation to establish a Reconciliation and Unity CommissionReconciliation and Unity Commission (Fiji)
The Reconciliation and Unity Commission is a proposed government body to be set up if the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, which was introduced into the Fijian Parliament on 4 May 2005 is passed...
, a proposed tribunal with the authority (subject to presidential approval) to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the coup d'état
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...
which deposed the elected government in 2000. Calling the proposal a recipe for disaster which would create a "legal framework" to pardon, at will, anyone convicted of coup-related offence, party leader Mick Beddoes said on 16 May 2005 that it would lead to the prevalence of the law of the jungle and would licence any would-be political activist who wanted to engage in coups, to do so. He accused the government of pandering to its junior coalition partner, the Conservative Alliance
Conservative Alliance (Fiji)
The Conservative Alliance was a far-right political party in Fiji, and a member of the ruling coalition government. It was commonly known as the CAMV, a combination of the initials of its English and Fijian names...
, to which many of those convicted of coup-related offenses belong. On 14 June, the party announced the beginning of a Yellow Ribbon Campaign to promote a petition aimed at forcing the bill to be withdrawn, or at least significantly amended. On 17 June, Beddoes accused Prime Minister 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...
of lying about widespread public support for the bill, claiming that the "small group of dissenters" that the Prime Minister said existed were, in fact, the minority who knew what the bill contained. He said that asking the Fijian people to support the legislation without making them aware of its contents was "a deliberate attempt to mislead the Fijian community."
Towards 2006
The UPP announced on 28 June 2005 that Josephine Raikuna Williams, the former Mayor of NadiNadi
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...
, would be a candidate for the party at the general election
Fiji 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...
expected to be held in 2006.
The Fijian electoral system
Fijian electoral system
- Historical overview :Fiji's electoral system is the result of complex negotiations, compromises, and experiments conducted over the years leading up to and following independence from British colonial rule in 1970. A number of devices have been tried at various times to accommodate the reality...
employs the so-called alternate ballot, whereby votes cast for low-polling candidates may be transferred to higher-polling candidates according to the ranking specified by the candidate, which may be customized by the individual voter. It is usual, therefore, for parties to negotiate preference deals before elections. Mick Beddoes emphasized on 8 September 2005 that any such agreement with the Fiji Labour Party
Fiji Labour Party
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...
(FLP) or the National Alliance Party
National 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) would have to be favourable to UPP candidates. They did not want to be caught, he said, in a situation in which the UPP merely collected votes to benefit other parties. He also said that some executives of the UPP were opposed to making any deals with other parties.
On 18 September, however, Beddoes announced that he was negotiating with FLP about the possibility of an electoral coalition. He also intended to negotiate with the National Alliance Party and possibly the 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...
, he said. On 16 October, he said that negotiations between the UPP and the FLP had finalized a deal, and that the UPP executive had endorsed it 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. 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...
on 2 December, agreeing to exchange preferences at the 2006 election. The agreement called for a joint manifesto to be drawn up, but left open the possibility of each party contesting any or all of the 71 seats separately, or of fielding joint candidates by mutual agreement. The agreement also left open the possibility of other parties joining the coalition.
Beddoes had earlier announced on 10 October that the party hoped to field a full slate of candidates, comprising 36 indigenous Fijians
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...
, 26 Indo-Fijians, and 1 Rotuma
Rotuma
Rotuma is a Fijian dependency, consisting of Rotuma Island and nearby islets. The island group is home to a small but unique indigenous ethnic group which constitutes a recognizable minority within the population of Fiji, known as "Rotumans"...
n, with each of the country's eight principal minority communities represented by one candidate each. Negotiations towards forming a coalition with other parties were ongoing, he said, but no final decision had been taken.
The coalition agreement with the FLP did not exclude deals with other parties, Beddoes emphasized on 15 December 2005. Talks with other parties about electoral pacts were continuing, he said.
The party won at the Fiji election of 2006
Fiji 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...
1 % and 2 out of 71 seats.