The founding members of the FijiFirst party, including former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and ex-attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, have resigned.

Sayed-Khaiyum confimed that party president Ratu Joji Satalaka, vice-president Selai Adimaitoga, acting general-secretary Faiyaz Koya and treasurer Hem Chand have also resigned from the party, according to local media reports.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the other vice-president Ravindran Nair and founding member Salesh Kumar have also resigned.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji politics reports

He said the resignation letters were given to the Registrar of Political Parties last Friday, June 7.

One FijiFirst MP, Ketal Lal, posted on Facebook: “Sad day for Fiji” after the news was made public.

Dialogue Fiji executive director Nilesh Lal said the “mass resignation of founding members and senior officials is probably one of the most ill-conceived moves on the part of the founding members of the FijiFirst party”.

Lal said the move will “severely weaken” the position of the two minor parties — Sodelpa and NFP — in the coalition government.

Minor parties losing ‘bargaining chip’
“It was always in the interests of NFP and Sodelpa that FijiFirst remained a strong, united and viable party, and with this latest development, this is clearly not the case any longer. Both Sodelpa and NFP lose their bargaining chip, with the demise of FijiFirst.”

RNZ Pacific has contacted the Registrar of Political Parties, Ana Mataiciwa, for comment.

Last week, FijiFirst confirmed that it had sacked 17 MPs after they voted for a pay rise — going against a party directive.

However, the expelled Fijifirst MPs said they were going to contest the decision and would remain parliamentary opposition, highlighting divisions within the largest single party in the Fijian Parliament.

Mataiciwa, who was also the Supervisor of Elections, said FijiFirst needed to amend its consitution by June 28 or risk deregistration.

She told local media the party’s constitution did not have guidelines on how internal party disputes were resolved, which was in breach of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

An unelected official in Fiji is demanding that visitors to Rabi lsland seek his approval before travelling there.

Rabi Administrator Iakoba Karutake has issued a policy statement saying non-Banabans visiting the island must register with local police.

He said those planning to consult or organise meetings with the Banaban community will not be allowed on the island without permission from him.

• READ MORE: Life on Rabi – a photo gallery by Hele Ikimotu and Blessen Tom

This comes as the Banaban Human Rights Defenders Network has called on the Fiji government to investigate human rights violations on Rabi.

Rabi became home for Banaban Islanders after the destruction of Banaba due to phosphate mining by the colonial powers.

The network has expressed its concern at the authoritarian control Karutake is assuming.

The former FijiFirst government of Voreqe Bainimarama replaced the Rabi Council of Leaders in 2013 with a temporary administrator and the network wants the council re-instated.

No consultation claim
“A spokesperson with the group, Rae Bainteiti, said Karutake had acted without consulting the people.

Bainteiti said the administrator’s role only continued to exist because the Fiji government had neglected to hold elections for the Rabi Council of Leaders.

He also asked whether such a regulation was in conflict with the Fiji Constitution.

However, Karutake told RNZ Pacific that he had conducted community consultations and he believed the people of Rabi understood what he was trying to achieve.

He claimed people like Bainteiti were stirring people up but he wanted to maintain the calm.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Fiji government has announced its “rebuilding our future together” Budget with a spend of FJ$4.3 billion (NZ$3.2 billion) to address the high cost of living and pay for the hefty bill racked up by the former FijiFirst administration and the global pandemic, coupled with multiple tropical cyclones and the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad said the focus of the budget was navigate the country from its economic crisis to provide a better standard of living for its people.

Professor Prasad said the deficit was higher than he wanted and nearly 25 percent of the budget would go to servicing debt.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji economy reports

“We have too much government debt for the size of our economy and that remains one of our biggest challenges. We must continue to carefully manage our revenue spending.”

He said the budget “stabilises revenue and debt level and puts the country on a sustainable path”.

Financial summary
Total government expenditure for the 2023/2024 Budget is $4.3 billion with a projected revenue of $3.7 billion — a deficit of $639 million. Fiji starts July with a debt-to-GDP ratio of almost 88.8 pecent.

Here’s a list of the major spending and projects:

Tax policies
Increases

• Value Added Tax increases to 15 percent on most food, with the intension to pump an estimated $446m into the economy.
• 5 percent increase to the excise tax on alcohol and tobacco.
• The excise on carbonated/ sugar-sweetened beverages will be increased from 35 cents per litre to 40 cents per litre.
• A domestic excise of 40c per kilogram or per litre, and import excise of 15 percent, will be introduced on carbonated drinks, ice cream, sweet biscuits, snacks, and sugar confectionery.
• Motor vehicle import excise duty will increase on all new and used passenger vehicles by an additional 5 percent.
• The corporate tax rate will increase from the current 20 percent to 25 percent.
• New companies eligible for reduced corporate tax for listing on the South Pacific Stock Exchange will have their tax rate increased from the current 10 percent to 15 percent. This will be for new companies and only for a period of seven years. These corporate tax rate increases will add about $73.5m in revenue.
• Departure Tax will increase from the current $100 to $125 effective from August 1 and will further increase by an additional $15 to $140 effective from January 1, 2024. This will add a total of $30m towards overall tax revenues.

Reductions

• 21 basic food items continue to attract zero VAT with the inclusion of prescribed medicine to the list.
• Reduction in fiscal duty from 32 percent to 15 percent on canned mackerel (except canned tuna), corned mutton, corned beef and beef products, canned tomatoes, prawns and duck meat.
• Fiscal duty on sheep/lamb meats will be reduced to zero. For beef meat the duty is being reduced from 32 percent to 15 percent.
• Reduction in import excise on chicken portions such as wings, drumsticks, feet, thighs, etc from 15 percent to 0 percent.
• Concession on smartphones will be removed and replaced with a fiscal duty of 5 percent.

Education

• Education gets the highest allocation in this budget – $845m.
• Biman Prasad announced all Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Service debt — $650m owed by more than 50,000 students — is written off. But it comes with the caveat that these students will have to save a bond. The bond savings will be years of study multiplied by 1.5, and those who choose not to save the bond will have to pay the equivalent cost amount.
• The rebranded Fijian scholarship scheme will have a total budget of $148.2m.
• The salaries budget for the Ministry of Education increased to $322.6m, to cover existing teachers and 179 new teaching and non-teaching positions.
• There is $8.9m for salary upgrades for teachers completing qualifications for higher pay.
• $5.7m for the rural and maritime teaching allowance budget.
• Free education and transport assistance to ECE, primary and secondary school students, with a total funding allocation of more than $100m.
• There is also money for back to school support, and maintenance and upgrading of schools.
• Investment in the technical colleges, working together with existing service providers, including the newly established Pacific Polytech.
• A revamp the apprenticeship scheme in the next few months and also review the NTPC Levy and how best to support and fund skill upgrades in the workforce.
• Tertiary institutions get $103.3m, the grant for the University of the South Pacific is restored, and they have allocated extra money towards clearing the USP outstanding grants.
• There is also an extra $500,000 for Sangam Institute of Technology to accommodate additional nursing students, “in light of the current shortage”.

Health and disability

• Health Ministry is allocated a budget of $453.8m, a significant increase of $58.7m from the previous budget.
• Salaries and wages budget for the Health Ministry has increased to $126.4m.
• This will cater for 250 intern nurses to move up to become registered nurses; 237 new intern nurses; 46 nursing assistants; 50 nursing aides; 40 midwives; 94 medical laboratory scientists; and additional support staff in various hospitals and non-medical officers for the Fiji Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Services to strengthen capacity and improve procurement efficiency.
• Nursing assistant and nurse aide positions have been created to support the nurses’ focus on their core role, where these aides and assistants will take over the non-clinical responsibilities like making the bed, getting the consumables etc. The government is also providing $11.6m for the upgrade of nurses’ salaries and overtime.
• $63m has been allocated for public health programmes, Emergency Radiology and Laboratory Services, procurement of drugs, consumables, medicines, and purchase of bio-medical equipment and accessories.
• $2.5m is allocated for the Kidney Dialysis Treatment Subsidy. The allocation has been increased by $1m from this year’s level to cater for the increase in the dialysis subsidy from the current $150 per session to $180.
• $16.4m is allocated for the upgrade and maintenance of urban hospitals and institutional quarters, permanent walkway for the maternity hospital at CWM, purchase, installation and replacement of ICT equipment, and a major interior upgrade of Labasa hospital.
• From August 1, only patients with a combined household income of $30,000 or less per annum can qualify for the free services at private practitioners.

Tourism

• Tourism Fiji is allocated an operating grant of $7m and to support new marketing strategies an increased Marketing Grant of $30m is provided in the new financial year.

Infrastructure, roads and water

• $200m has been allocated for the maintenance of hospitals, health centres, schools, public buildings, government quarters, roads and bridges and water infrastructure.
• The water sector will have an increased budget of $250.8m. This is a major increase of almost $60m compared to the current budget.
• $51.2m has been allocated for the completion of the Viria water project. The total cost of the project is approximately $400m.
• Government is working with the Asian Development Bank for a major institutional revamp of the Water Authority, including governance, investment planning, asset management, infrastructure replacement and upgrade, review of water tariffs, investment in people and improving customer service management. This will cost over $500m to replace the 40-year-old pipe system which is leaking underground.
• An increased allocation of $100.6m is allocated for road maintenance.
• Fiji Roads Authority is allocated a budget of $387.6m which comprises $14.7m for operations and $372.9m for capital expenditure.
• In the last eight years, a total of around $3.1b was spent by the road authority without any strategic plan, without much priority and without proper costing.
• $82.2m for the Transport Infrastructure Investment Sector Project financed through Asian Development Bank and World Bank loans of US$100m and US$50m, respectively.
• Public Works, Meteorological Service and Transport Ministry is allocated a sum of $98.3m.
• Government has also re-established the Public Works Department (PWD) to improve the state of rural roads around the country with an initial setup cost of $5m.

Social welfare and pension

• Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection funding allocation has increased from $147.7m to $200.2m.
• More than 90,000 thousand people on social welfare will directly benefit from increased monthly allowances of 15 and 25 percent.
• $100,000 is allocated to cater for the establishment of a new Department of Children.
• $19.9m has been allocated for the Child Protection Allowance. This is an increase of $6.2m.
• The Family Assistance Scheme is allocated a budget of $45.6m. This is an increase of $11.5m from the current financial year. A total of 26,000 households are expected to be assisted in this financial year.
• $43million is allocated to cater for disability allowance, bus fare subsidy for elderly and disabled, electricity subsidy to households below $30,000 income and insurance for social welfare recipients. Over 100,000 people are expected to benefit from this.
• Those aged 70 years and above, and on the social pension system, will receive a 25 percent increase in allowances. This means the monthly allowance will increase from $100 a month to $125 a month effective August 2023. Those between the age of 65 to 69 years will have their monthly allowances increased from $100 to $115.
• The social pension scheme is allocated a large budget of $78.2m, an increase of $23.2m to cater for the needs of 54,200 senior citizens.
• Effective from August 2023, the 1,500 FNPF pensioners who had their pension rates reduced by the military regime will be able to access the Government social pension allowance of $125 if they are above the age of 70 or $115 if they are between 60 to 69 years.

Civil service and cutbacks

• Review of the current minimum wage rate to be done in the next financial year.
• The government is working together with the workers’ representatives to review the overall pay and benefits of the civil servants.
• In the next six to nine months, government will review the civil service remuneration and pending the review, the salary structure of the civil service will be readjusted to be commensurate with the work the civil servants are doing for the nation.
• Government ministers have taken a 20 percent pay cut; they are significantly cutting down ministerial travel allowances put in place by the previous government.
• Travel allowance of the Prime Minister, the current 250 percent per diem loading, will be reduced to 100 percent.
• Ministers will have their top-up reduced from 200 percent to 50 percent.
• For assistant ministers the top-up will be reduced from the current 100 percent to 25 percent.
• Apart from these major reductions, Government will remove “all the exorbitant incidental allowances that are currently provided”.

Culture and arts

• Ministry of iTaukei Affairs, Culture, Heritage and Arts has been allocated a budget of $38.6m, a major increase of $23.2m from this year’s allocation
• To strengthen iTaukei administration and provincial councils, a grant of $10.8m is allocated to fund the 14 provincial councils, including $4.3m to fund the salaries and wages of 182 provincial council officers and other operational expenses of around $6.1 million.
• The Turaga-ni-Koro monthly allowance will be increased from $100 to $150 per month for all 1,181 Turaga-ni-Koro for which a total sum of $2.1 million is allocated.
• The Mata-ni-Tikina quarterly allowance will be increased by $150 per quarter, which is equivalent to an increase of $50 per month for the 262 Mata-ni-Tikina.
• $4m is allocated for iTaukei Land Development to help landowners with the development of their land for commercial purposes.
• To recognise and support the Turaga-ni-Yavusa in decision-making and Vanua administration, a monthly allowance of $100 has been allocated for 648 Turaga-ni-Yavusa under the Vanua Leadership Allowance with a sum of around $800,000.

Agriculture and Sugar

• Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways is allocated a budget of $95.2 million in this budget which is an increase of $37.3 million.
• For the first time, the government will be providing weedicide and fertilizer subsidy for non-sugar crops which includes rice, ginger, dalo, and cassava, with a funding of $1m to boost production of these crops.
• The Ministry of Multi-Ethnic Affairs and Sugar Industry is allocated a sum of $51.7m in the new financial year, of which $49.7m is for the sugar unit.
• With the aim to increase cane production from current production of 1.6m tonnes to 1.9m tonnes by 2024 season, a sum of $11m is allocated for the Sugar Development and Farmers Assistance Program, New Farmers and Lease Premium Assistance, Weedicide Subsidy, Farm Incentive Program and Cage Bins.

Fisheries, land and SME

• Ministry of Fisheries and Forestry is allocated a budget of $41.6m. This will support the expansion of aquaculture, shrimp farming, seaweed Development Programme, Multi-Species Hatchery, construction of ice plants and the supply of tilapia fingerlings and prawn frys to farmers in the Western Division.
• Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources is allocated a budget of $30.1m to enable the Ministry to continue effectively and efficiently administer and regulate the land and mineral resource sector
• Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives and Small Medium Enterprises and Communications is allocated a budget of $116.5m in the next financial year, an increase of $25.3m from this year’s allocation.

It has been six months now, but I have to make a strange admission. I miss the laughs I used to get over the pseudo-authoritative pronouncements of Fiji’s former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (pictured).

I recall that he got a bit over-excited in January this year. That was when he decided to lecture the new government on “constitutionalism” and “rule of law”.

This was apparently without any reflection on how he and his FijiFirst party government had performed by the rule of law standards on which he was pontificating.

• READ MORE: Other Richard Naidu columns

But in the last few days he decided to debate Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica on the FijiFirst party’s 2022 financial accounts, apparently insisting that FFP was not insolvent.

This was never going to be an equal contest. Kamikamica is a chartered accountant. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, well — he isn’t.

You don’t need to be an accountant to read a balance sheet — or to understand the simple definition of insolvency.

It’s not hard. You are insolvent if you “cannot pay your debts as they fall due”. You can find the accounts of all the main political parties on the Fiji Elections Office website.

More cash than others
FFP’s balance sheet (see image) says it has cash and term deposits of more than $270,000 in the bank.

That’s pretty good. It’s actually more cash than all the other political parties combined. But FFP also has debts (called, in accountant-speak, “payables and accruals”).

These come to well over $1.6 million. Once you add and subtract all the smaller stuff, FFP is left with net liabilities of just over $1 million.

In other words, that’s $1 million that FFP, even if it sold everything it owns, still could not pay to its creditors.

That $1.6 million in debts “fell due” months ago. And FFP could not pay them as they fell due. So FFP is insolvent.

Why pretend otherwise? Luckily for FFP, there isn’t a simple legal way for a creditor to wind up a political party for not paying its debts. Presumably FFP’s unpaid suppliers have learned that bitter lesson a bit late.

Learning lessons
But we are all learning lessons about FFP. Six months ago it was all-powerful. Its leaders sat in taxpayer-funded government offices and did (pretty much) whatever they wanted.

They regularly lectured the rest of us on all of our failings and all the things we were doing wrong. They exuded competence. Fast forward to June 2023.

The same FFP — which previously ran a government that spends $4 billion a year — had been suspended because it couldn’t prepare its own accounts on time.

The deadline for submitting political party accounts is March 31 each year. That’s in the Political Parties Act. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum presumably knew that because, after all, he “wrote the law”.

FFP’s accounts were not submitted by March 31. The Acting Supervisor of Elections (in stark contrast to her predecessor) did not fire off a suspension letter one day later.

She gave FFP (and some other political parties) an extension of time to put in their accounts. Six weeks later, FFP still had not filed its accounts.

And at that point even the most reasonable supervisor is entitled to be annoyed. That was when the suspension letter went out. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s reaction at the time was the usual legalistic bluster unsupported by the facts. FijiFirst, he said, had not been afforded “due process and natural justice”.

Failed to meet deadline
He did not elaborate. And what could he say? His party had been given a six-week extension of time and still not met the deadline under the law he had himself drafted. And then we found out.

FFP was deeply in debt — and presumably too embarrassed to tell the rest of us. If it hadn’t been suspended, we would probably still not know.

What else can we learn from the accounts of the former ruling party? We can see from its balance sheet that it began 2022 with (cash and term deposits) more than $860,000 in the bank.

That’s the sort of money other politicians could only dream of. At that time the People’s Alliance and National Federation Party, between them, had less than $20,000.

However FijiFirst then went on to spend $4.2 million — or more accurately, it ran up debts of that amount, and now it has to find $1.6m to pay off those debts.

That is because FFP raised only $2.2 million in donations. I say “only” — but that $2.2 million was twice as much as the three parties now in government could collect.

More lessons
There are other, bigger, lessons to learn from all of this — lessons about money and politics. What was FFP thinking as it threw around the cash in the 2022 election campaign?

Who would spend $1.6 million they didn’t have? The answer — a party that thought that, as long as it could win, the cash would keep rolling in.

No political party in Fiji’s history has ever had millions of dollars to spend.

And no political party in Fiji has ever cashed in on its political power as cynically as FFP did in the past 10 years. It was FFP that made the laws on electoral funding for political parties.

Companies were not allowed to contribute — only individuals and only up to $10,000 each. All donors had to be publicly disclosed — this included someone who put $2 in a bucket during a soli.

SODELPA leader Viliame Gavoka famously commented on how the laws required his party to issue a receipt for selling a $1 roti parcel. FFP of course, did not have to bother with the small stuff.

Soli? Roti parcels? Why bother when you can just wait for the $10,000 cheques? And the cheques rolled in — with embarrassing enthusiasm.

Early donor lists
Many of us saw the early FFP donor lists when they were published. Prominent business families fell over themselves to write their $10,000 cheques.

Of course, these cheques were from “individuals”. Those individuals were company directors, their spouses and even their under-age children, even if those children (and probably some of the spouses) didn’t have bank accounts to write cheques from.

You would hear from other, less enthusiastic, business people about invitations to FFP fund-raisers. You went — and you took your chequebook with you — because if you didn’t, well…

One business man complained to me: “If I pay, I get to talk to them — but they don’t do anything about my business problems anyway.”

Fiji is not the first country to encounter unhealthy problems about money and politics.

These create challenges in every democracy. In Fiji’s so-called “true democracy”, the rules about who donated money were supposed to be transparent.

The Political Parties Act originally required the Supervisor of Elections to publish the names of people who donated to political parties. But as FFP’s donors squirmed with discomfort under the spotlight of social media, in 2021 FFP quietly changed the law — buried, of course, in one of those Bills that would be rushed to Parliament on two days’ notice and rushed through the infamous Standing Order 51.

The law change meant that those party donor lists still had to be disclosed to the Supervisor of Elections — but the Supervisor no longer had to publish them in the newspapers.

Climate of political fear
Of course, in the climate of political fear that FFP actively promoted, that created a separate problem.

The ruling party always collects the millions. But the opposition parties would have to work much harder to collect their cash because no one with any serious money wanted to be identified on those disclosure lists as giving money to the opposition.

Because, even though the Supervisor of Elections no longer had to publish those lists, any member of the public could still inspect them.

Most Fiji citizens might not know that. But the one person who would know that was the general secretary of FFP — also the minister for elections, attorney-general and minister for economy.

Now, however, for the first time since 2014, we can do something about our money-and-politics laws.

Those laws need to be reviewed, with a strong eye on the lessons of the past.

But the most critical lesson is probably not about those laws. It is about the climate of fear that enabled one political party to raise millions of dollars to keep itself in power while keeping all of its opponents out of cash.

Some good news?
Finally, for diehard FijiFirst supporters — a small spot of good news in those accounts. Apparently FFP still has 6120 “promotional sulu” in stock.

The sulu, according to the accounts (Note 11), have been “fully expensed”. This is because “realisable value cannot be determined with reasonable accuracy.” This is the way accountants say: “We don’t think anybody wants them so we can’t put any value to them.”

Perhaps to show their loyalty, FFP’s fans could buy the sulu to pay off the $1.6 million debt. This would cost only $270 per sulu. Just thought I’d try to help.

Richard Naidu is a Suva lawyer who writes a regular independent column for The Fiji Times. He has enough sulu. He is also the chair of the Coalition government’s Fiscal Review Committee. Republished with permission.

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has played down criticism he is leading an administration that practices nepotism and favouritism.

The Rabuka-led three-party coalition government has been accused of rewarding loyalists with top positions in state-backed institutions and organisations.

There are some Fijians who claim Rabuka’s coalition is walking the same path as the previous FijiFirst government, which was also accused of rewarding party supporters with government jobs and contracts when it was in power from 2014 to 2022.

• READ MORE: Other Sitiveni Rabuka reports

But Rabuka, while not categorically denying the accusations, said the opinions of detractors did not worry him.

“[My reaction is] that I should not worry about that,” Rabuka told RNZ Pacific at Bau Island following the conclusion of the first meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs.

He said criticism received by his government was healthy and a part of democracy.

“It is a good thing that people speak out [about good governance concerns].”

‘Can they do better?’
“What I can say, or all I can say is ‘can they do better?'” he added, pointing out if his critics were good enough to offer a better alternative.

But the country’s former attorney-general and economy minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has alleged Rabuka’s government has been offering people unfair advantage on the basis of “political allegiance”.

Speaking to local media outside a Suva courthouse on Tuesday, Sayed-Khaiyum said former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst-made appointments to government boards and institutions were due to “their capability or the capacity to assist”.

“We have people being appointed on boards not because of what they know, what they can contribute but who they are, who they know, whose political allegiance they have,” he claimed.

“When we [FijiFirst] appointed people to boards it was all about those institutions, those bodies started making revenue, start collecting revenue, start paying dividends to the government.”

He gave the example of Airports Fiji Limited, a government commercial company, paying more than F$40 million in dividends to government which he said was “unprecedented” when it happened before the covid pandemic.

Sayed-Khaiyum claimed Rabuka’s government was rewarding individuals based on the political connections they had rather than on merit.

“So, people are now being appointed to those positions not because of their capability or the capacity to assist but over who they are, which political parties they belong to, what province they come from, what ethnicity they are, who they know, [or] whether they were failed [political] candidates or not.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji’s Great Council of Chiefs has endorsed the reinstatement of a lease distribution policy with the iTaukei Land Trust Board.

The decision was reached by interim council members who met on Bau Island yesterday shortly after the historic re-establishment of the council, which was abolished in 2007 by then prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

The lease distribution policy outlines the payment scheme for revenue generated through Fiji’s complicated system of native land leases which can be tens of millions of dollars a year or even more than that for the wealthier tribes.

• READ MORE:  Fiji President welcomes inclusive ‘new dawn’ for Great Council of Chiefs
• Other Great Council of Chiefs reports

The former FijiFirst government removed the policy and introduced Equal Rent Distribution in 2011.

This meant every member of the mataqali, or landowning unit, received the same amount from lease payments, regardless of their status.

The Minister for iTaukei Affairs, Ifereimi Vasu, said the chiefs endorsed the reinstatement of the original policy at a reduced percentage.

This means after the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB), which oversees all native leases takes its 10 percent poundage fee, the remaining funds are to be distributed as follows:

• 5 percent for the Turaga iTaukei (Village Chiefs)
• 10 percent for the Turaga Qali (Village Elders)
• 15 percent for the Turaga ni Mataqali (Clan Leader)
• 70 percent to be shared equally among remaining members

Vasu said concerns had been raised with them that some mataqali members around Fiji take their lease money and do not contribute to the vanua or the village’s development.

“Most of our visits to the province, most stated that the equal distribution is not helping, it really is not helping those that are leading the vanua, they are really struggling.

“In a sense, now that we are having equal distribution, people don’t bother about what is happening on the vanua, they have taken their share, they have gone, and all the responsibilities are handled by the chiefs.”

Ifereimi Vasu said it was also decided that a development fund be set up to cater for future iTaukei development needs.

“As an outcome of the discussion, the meeting endorsed the setting up of a special fund for the future, iTaukei Development Funding, which will be sourced from the percentage of the TLTB poundage and the percent of the lease money,” he said.

Chiefs to hear from review committee
Apart from the lease distribution policy, the chiefs also agreed to hear back from a committee conducting a review of the Great Council of Chiefs which will guide the form and function of the new council.

The review team, led by Ratu Jone Baledrokadroka, has until the end of July to complete their work.

A final report will be presented to the council upon its completion.

Ratu Baledrokadroka said the council — which was accused of being a racist organisation in the past — has indicated a willingness to open up as a body for all Fijians, which is a positive endorsement of the work his team is carrying out.

He said, in reinventing itself, it is important for the council to keep out of politics.

“The GCC is willing to open up the institution making it more apolitical. We are trying to make sure that, into the future, it doesn’t commit the mistakes of the past,” Ratu Baledrokadroka said.

“That has been the biggest mistake for the GCC that it had delved into politics which had seen it disestablished by the previous government.”

Speaking after the presentation to the meeting yesterday, Ratu Baledrokadroka said their brief presentation on what they had been able to gather so far was well received.

“We have done nine provinces. What they are wanting is inclusiveness, that the GCC represents all ethnicities and all sections of society, the youth, the women.

“We give our recommendations on what people say. What we will produce is what the people have said.

“What has come out very strongly today is that the GCC and the chiefs are for all, not just for iTaukeis; they are willing to take on that responsibility for all.”

Ratu Baledrokadroka said the traditional ceremonies of apologies and forgiveness that took place at the opening ceremony augured well for the way Fiji was moving.

Future membership
Minister of iTaukei Affairs Vasu confirmed yesterday that the current membership of the GCC was temporary.

He said the re-establishment of the GCC was scheduled for May.

“Its actual make up will come from what the Review Team finalises. The people and the chiefs will decide how the GCC will move forward,” Vasu added.

Vasu said calls made for the inclusion of other races and groupings in the GCC membership would have to be decided when the review team “come back and give us their final analysis of what the people and the chiefs are saying”.

The meeting of the interim council members continued today on Bau Island and was expected to conclude this afternoon.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji’s Department of Information spent $889,234.84 in taxpayer funds to the Fiji-owned company Vatis Communications until its contract was terminated earlier this year.

Prime Minister and Minister for Information and Public Enterprises Sitiveni Rabuka revealed this in Parliament last week in response to questions raised surrounding the engagement of Vatis Communications by the Ministry of Information under the Voreqe Bainimarama-led FijiFirst government.

Rabuka said Vatis had been engaged by the Department of Information from September 2019 to January 2023 to provide social media management services for the Fiji government social media platforms.

• READ MORE: Fiji sacks PR consultants Qorvis Communications and Vatis – Fiji Times report and video
• Other Vatis reports

He said the department did not have the specifics for the engagement of Vatis by other ministries.

“The Department of Information entered into two one-year contracts with Vatis, commencing on September 24, 2019, and October 1, 2022, respectively, which also included provision for extensions,” Mr Rabuka said.

“The first contract between the Department of Information and Vatis commenced on September 24, 2019, and was valued at $280,000 VIP.

“The second contract which commenced on October 1, 2020, was valued at $295,412 VIP.”

The PM said that according to the Registrar of Companies records, Vatus was established on January 22, 2018, while the advertisement for the initial expression of interest for a social media management firm was posted on August 17, 2019.

Responding to questions on its experience and motivation, Rabuka noted Vatis had previous experience working with multiple and diverse range of stakeholders that included government ministries and statutory organisations, independent agencies and private organisations; and their experience included crisis management and strategic communication services on social media platforms, among other things.

Timoci Vula is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

The Fiji government is signalling that it will not completely tear down the country’s controversial media law which, according to local newsrooms and journalism commentators, has stunted press freedom and development for more than a decade.

Ahead of the 2022 general elections last December, all major opposition parties campaigned to get rid of the Media Industry Development Act (MIDA) 2010 — brought in by the Bainimarama administration — if they got into power.

The change in government after 16 years following the polls brought a renewed sense of hope for journalists and media outlets.

• READ MORE: Repeal Fiji’s media law and start with ‘clean slate’, says CFL chief
• Other Fiji media freedom reports

But now almost 100 days in charge it appears Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s coalition is backtracking on its promise to get rid of the punitive law, a move that has been condemned by the industry stakeholders.

“The government is totally committed to allowing people the freedom of the press that will include the review of the Media Act,” Rabuka said during a parliamentary session last month.

“I believe we cannot have a proper democracy without a free press which has been described as the oxygen of democracy,” he said.

Rabuka has denied that his government is backtracking on an election promise.

“Reviewing could mean eventually repealing it,” he told RNZ Pacific in February.

“We have to understand how it [media act] is faring in this modern day of media freedom. How have other administrations advance their own association with the media,” he said.

He said he intended to change it which means “review and make amendments to it”.

“The coalition has given an assurance that we will end that era of media oppression. We are discussing new legislation that reflects more democratic values.”

And last week, that discussion happened for the first time when consultations on a refreshed version of a draft regulation began in Suva as the government introduced the Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023.

The bill is expected to “address issues that are undemocratic, threatens freedom of expression, and hinders the growth and development of a strong and independent news media in Fiji.”

The proposed law will amend the MIDA Act by removing the punitive clauses on content regulation that threatens journalists with heavy fines and jail terms.

“The bill is not intended as a complete reform of Fiji’s media law landscape,” according to the explanations provided by the government.

No need for government involvement
But the six-page proposed regulation is not what the media industry needs, according to the University of the South Pacific’s head of journalism programme Associate Professor Shailendra Singh.

“We have argued there is no need for legislation,” he said during the public consultation on the bill last Thursday.

“The existing laws are sufficient but if there has to be a legislation there should be minimum or no government involvement at all,” he said.

The Fijian Media Association (FMA) has also expressed strong opposition against the bill and is calling for the MIDA Act to be repealed.

“If there is a need for another legislation, then government can convene fresh consultation with stakeholders if these issues are not adequately addressed in other current legislation,” the FMA, which represents almost 150 working journalists in Fiji, stated.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, FMA executive member and Communications Fiji Limited news director Vijay Narayan said “we want a total repeal” of the Media Act.

“We believe that it was brought about without consultation at all…it was shoved down our throats,” Narayan said.

“We have worked with it for 16 years. We have been staring at the pointy end of the spear and we continue to work hard to build our industry despite the challenges we face.”

‘Restrictions stunts growth’
He said the Fiji’s media industry “needs investment” to improve its standards.

Narayan said the FMA acknowledged that the issue of content regulation was addressed in the new law.

But “with the restrictions in investment that also stunts our growth as media workers,” he added.

“The fact that it will be controlled by politicians there is a real fear. What if we have reporting on something and the politician feels that the organisation that is registered should be reregistered.”

The FMA has also raised concerns about the provisions in relation to cross-media ownership and foreign ownership as key issues that impacts on media development and creates an unequal playing field.

Sections 38 and 39 of the Media Act impose restrictions on foreign ownership on local local media organisations and cross-media ownership.

According to a recent analysis of the Act co-authored by Dr Singh, they are a major impediment to media development and need to be re-examined.

“It would be prudent to review the media ownership situation and reforms periodically, every four-five years, to gauge the impact, and address any issues, that may have arisen,” the report recommends.

But Suva lawyer and coalition government adviser Richard Naidu is of the view that all issues in respect to the news media should be opened up.

Naidu, who has helped draft the proposed new legislation, said it “has preserved the status quo” and the rules of cross-ownership and foreign media ownership were left as they were in the Media Act.

“Is that right? That is a question of opinion…because before the [MIDA Act] there were no rules on cross-media ownership, there were no rules on foreign media ownership.”

Naidu said the MIDA Act was initially introduced as a bill and media had two hours to to offer its views on it before its implementation.

“So, which status quo ought to be preserved; the one before the [MIDA Act] was imposed or the one as it stands right now. Those are legitimate questions.”

“There is a whole range of things which need to be reviewed and which will probably take a bit of time.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The long-running row between the former Fiji government and the Suva-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP) has come back to haunt former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who spent a night in a police cell on March 9 before appearing in court, charged with abuse of office.

Not only did the “USP saga”, as it came to be known, cause a major rift between Fiji and the other 12 USP-member countries, but it may have contributed to the narrow loss of Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Party (FFP) in the December 2022 election.

Bainimarama’s abuse of office charges included accusations of interfering with a police investigation into financial malpractices at USP. If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in jail.

• READ MORE: Fiji’s Bainimarama granted bail, ordered to remain in country
• Former Fiji PM Bainimarama and suspended police chief charged
• The USP saga

But there are also serious questions about the future of the party that he co-founded, and which won successive elections in 2014 and 2018 on the back of his popularity.

A day before his indictment, there were surreal scenes at the Suva Central Police Station, as police officers marched an ashen-faced Bainimarama to his cell to spend the night before his court appearance the next morning.

This, under the full glare of live media coverage, with journalists tripping over themselves to take pictures of the former military strongman, who installed himself as prime minister after the 2006 coup and ruled for 16 years straight.

Arrested, detained and charged alongside Bainimarama was his once-powerful police chief, Sitiveni Qiliho, who managed a wry smile for the cameras. Both were released on a surety of F$10,000 (about NZ$7300) after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Shut down police investigation
It is alleged that in 2019, the duo “arbitrarily and in abuse of the authority of their respective offices” shut down a police investigation into alleged irregularities at USP when former vice-chancellor Rajesh Chandra was in charge.

In November 2018, Chandra’s replacement, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, revealed large remuneration payments to certain USP senior staff, some running to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Fiji government, unhappy with Ahluwalia’s attack on Chandra, counter-attacked by alleging irregularities in Ahluwalia’s own administration.

As the dispute escalated, the Fiji government suspended its annual grant to the USP in a bid to force an inquiry into its own allegations.

When an external audit by the NZ accountants BDO confirmed the original report’s findings, the USP executive committee, under the control of the then Fiji government appointees, suspended Ahluwalia in June 2020.

This was in defiance of the USP’s supreme decision-making body, the USP Council, which reinstated him within a week.

Samoa’s then Deputy Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (who is now prime minister, having won a heavily contested election of her own) said at the time that Ahluwalia’s suspension had been a “nonsense”.

The then Nauruan President Lionel Aingimea attacked a “small group” of Fiji officials for “hijacking” the 12-country regional university.

Students threatened boycott
The USP Students’ Association threatened a boycott of exams, while more than 500 signatures supporting the suspended vice-chancellor were collected and students protested across several of USP’s national campuses. All these events played out prominently in the regional news media as well as on social media platforms.

With Fiji’s national elections scheduled for the following year, the political toll was becoming obvious. However, Bainimarama’s government either did not see it, or did not care to see it.

Instead of backing off from what many saw as an unnecessary fight, it doubled down. In February 2021, around 15 government police and security personnel along with immigration officials staged a late-night raid on Professor Ahluwalia’s Suva home, detained him with his wife, Sandra Price, and put them in a car for the three-hour drive to Nadi International Airport where, deported, they were put on the first flight to Australia.

The move sent shockwaves in Fiji and the region.

To many, it looked like a government that had come to power in the name of a “clean-up campaign” against corruption was now indulging in a cover-up campaign instead. The USP saga became political fodder at opposition rallies, with one of their major campaign promises being to bring back Professor Ahluwalia and restore the unpaid Fiji government grant that stood at F$86 million (about NZ$62 million) at the time.

A month before the 2022 polls, a statement targeting the estimated 30,000 staff and student cohort at USP, their friends and families, urged them to vote against FijiFirst, which would go on to lose government by a single parliamentary vote to the tripartite coalition led by another former coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka.

Albanese official visit
It was Rabuka who greeted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his first official visit to Fiji last week. During talks at the Australian-funded Blackrock military camp, Albanese reportedly secured Rabuka’s support for the AUKUS deal.

Australia is keen for stability in Fiji, which has not had a smooth transition of power since independence, with democratically elected governments removed by coups in 1987, 2000 and 2006. Any disturbance in Fiji has the potential to upset the delicate balance in the region as a whole.

For Bainimarama and his followers, there is much to rue. His claimed agenda — to build national unity and racial equality and to rid Fiji of corruption — earned widespread support in 2014.

His margin of victory was much narrower in 2018 but Bainimarama managed to secure a majority in Parliament to lead the nation again.

His electoral loss in 2022 was followed by a series of dramatic events, which first saw Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, his deputy in all but name, disqualified from holding his seat in Parliament.

Bainimarama went next, suspended for three years by Parliament’s privileges committee for a speech attacking head of state Ratu Wiliame Katonivere. He chose to resign as opposition leader.

Following his March 10 hearing, Bainimarama addressed the media and a few supporters outside court, adamant that he had served the country with “integrity” and with “the best interests” of all Fijians at heart.  The former leader even managed to smile for the cameras while surrounded by a group of followers.

With nearly double the personal votes of the sitting PM Rabuka under Fiji’s proportional representation voting system, Bainimarama’s supporters still harboured some hope that he could return as the country’s leader one day.

However, his health is not the best. He is now out of Parliament and bogged down by legal troubles. Is the sun now setting on the era of Bainimarama and FijiFirst?

Dr Shailendra Bahadur Singh is a frequent contributor to Asia Pacific Report and is on the editorial board of the associated Pacific Journalism Review. This article was originally published by the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has resigned from Parliament just two weeks after copping a three-year suspension for making seditious comments.

Bainimarama, who was the opposition leader, made the announcement via a five-minute video on Facebook today.

He said his suspension on February 17 was “unwarranted and most certainly unjustified”.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji politics reports

“I did not swear nor did I make any racist or divisive comments,” he said.

“In fact, the so-called offensive words could have been objected to by points of order as provided for under the Standing Orders. However, the decision has been made by Parliament through a vote and I have complied with the decision.”

But the former coup leader-turned-PM, who was in charge of the country for almost 16 years before losing the 2022 Elections in December, said he would remain the leader of FijiFirst which was “the largest single political party in Parliament”.

“I want to assure all our supporters and all Fijians that you will be seeing more of me on the ground as I engage with you to listen to your needs, wants and concerns,” he said.

Guiding FijiFirst MPs
He said he would be guiding the FijiFirst MPs with his former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

“So they can continue to fight inside Parliament while we will engage more actively outside Parliament with our FijiFirst supporters and the growing number of unsatisfied Fijians who are now questioning their decision to vote for parties that seem to be not delivering on their promises.”

Bainimarama’s suspension also means that the opposition’s numbers in Parliament will go down to 25. However, he will be replaced by the next ranked FijiFirst candidate from the 14 December election.

“From FijiFirst’s perspective and also for the nearly 43 percent of voters in the 2022 General Elections, it is important that we maintain at all times our 26 seats in Parliament,” Bainimarama said.

He said his party would prevent the incumbent coalition government “from running roughshod over our Constitution, breaches of which are taking place almost on a daily basis, and to highlight the lack of adherence to basic fundamentals of due process and procedural fairness”.

Bainimarama has confirmed that FijiFirst will nominate former defence minister and disaster management minister Inia Seruiratu as the new opposition leader when Parliament sits for its next session at the end of the month.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji.

A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances.

It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, with razor-thin margins.

• READ MORE: Other Richard Naidu articles on Fiji

The same drama extended into Parliament.

There was definitely a bump in the road when the military openly expressed concern about the speed of change.

But that was navigated smoothly.

One other thing stood on a razor-thin margin.

Nobody in Fiji should forget it.

‘Rule of law’
A little thing called “rule of law”.

In a Fiji Times column last week, I tried to capture the idea of this.

First, the idea that the law is more important than everyone, including the government.

But second, the idea that the law is more than just rules and regulations which restrict us.

Rule of law means also that the government is bound to respect ordinary people’s rights and freedoms.

That rule of law was seriously at risk under the FijiFirst government.

Things had gotten to the point where, using bullying and fear, unafraid of the courts or any other institution which might restrain it, the FijiFirst government just did what it wanted.

In its last year of power, the only restraint on FijiFirst was the fact that an election was coming.

Turned on opponents
Had it won that election, FijiFirst would have turned its guns on the only opponents it had left — the opposition political parties, the independent news media and the few non-government organisations that continued to criticise it.

Fiji would have fallen firmly into that growing group of countries now called “democratic dictatorships” — places which have elections and the other trappings of democracy, but which in truth severely restrict the democratic rights and freedoms of their people.

Four key officials holding important constitutional positions — the Chief Justice, the Commissioner of Police, the Commissioner of Corrections and the Supervisor of Elections — have been suspended inside of four weeks.

That tells us one of two things.

Either the new government is particularly vengeful.

Or there are complaints against these officials that date back to the FijiFirst party’s time in power and which are only now coming to light.

After all, they’ve hardly had time to offend us under the new government.

And if these are in fact complaints about things which happened long ago, we must ask — why were they not actioned under the FijiFirst government?

No one dared complain
Or was fear of the government so pervasive that no one dared to complain against these officials — and the complaints are only being made now?

We need to know about these complaints.

Yes, each of these officials is innocent until proven otherwise.

But they are public officials, occupying some of the most powerful and critical positions in the country.

The decisions they make concern our most basic rights and freedoms — whether or not we spend a night in a cell, whether (and when) we will get a ruling on our employment dispute, or whether we are able to vote.

So we, the public, have a right to know what they are accused of.

What has changed?

The overwhelming sentiment for most of us — at least those around me — is a new sense of freedom.

Doesn’t change things
For many of us, that does not really change things from day to day.

Not everyone has the compelling urge to air their opinions on everything (in newspaper columns or elsewhere).

But it is simply the fact that if you want to rant about something on Facebook, you’re not worrying about what the government will think.

Most of us, day to day, are not worrying about whether we will be unfairly held for 48 hours in a jail cell.

Yet only two years ago in the covid crisis, the police were doing that to hundreds of people.

We are not worrying about whether we will be arrested for saying something which will “cause public alarm”.

Yet, every time an NGO or opposition political party leader issued a public statement in the last 10 years, this was a constant worry.

But much of the real damage done was at the next level down — the level where ordinary people like us want to get things done.

This week I met a small group of distinguished doctors.

Climate of fear
I heard with some amazement about the climate of fear which predominated in the Ministry of Health.

Criticism was not permitted.

In November last year, the permanent Secretary for Health publicly told politicians to “leave the Health Ministry alone”.

Nobody, he said, should talk about it.

Nobody should “undermine” it — because it was on the cusp of great things.

One senior medical specialist who famously criticised the state of our hospitals in The Fiji Times was immediately banned from entering them.

This was hardly a hardship — he was only volunteering his skills for free.

But what about all the patients who he was looking after?

He recounted to me, with some wonder the bureaucratic memo-writing process that is now being followed to bring him back.

Cash and volunteers
The International Women’s Association has cash and volunteers ready to improve women’s and children’s health at CWM Hospital.

We are talking about basic things, like hot water and decrepit bathrooms.

How do you run hospital wards without hot water?

IWA’s mistake was to make these deficiencies public on social media.

So the Health Ministry stopped talking to IWA.

Only with the change of government is IWA allowed to openly communicate with the Ministry of Health about what it wants to do — instead of whispers to officials on their gmail accounts.

For years, I have marvelled at the stupidity of the edicts issued from Ministry of Education headquarters.

Schools may not fund-raise without permission.

Schools may not invite speakers to their school assemblies without permission.

Schools may not run extracurricular classes for students without their permission.

‘In name of equality’
The policy seems to be “in the name of equality, we must all be equally dumbed down”.

As the Education Ministry pursued the government’s mad obsession with our “secular state”, schools owned by religious bodies cannot choose their own school heads, even if they pay for them and save the government money.

Education and health are critical issues for all of us.

The government can’t deliver everything.

Governments by nature are unwieldy, bureaucratic and slow (sometimes for good reason, because they have to carefully manage public funds and follow other laws).

So people have to get involved.

Get involved

We also have to get involved on a wide swathe of other issues such as poverty, domestic violence, drug abuse, crime and economic opportunities.

Criticism not welcome
These are all things which, for the past 15 years, we were told, the government had under control — like “never before”.

Our input — and certainly our criticism — were not welcome.

Let’s be clear about our new government.

We might be glad that it’s there.

And we should never take for granted the rights and freedoms it has restored to us and the refreshing new attitude it brings after 15 years.

But soon the honeymoon will end, the shine will come off and we will all have to get down to the work (which never ends) of solving our deep social and economic problems.

The expectations on the new government are huge.

Everybody wants every problem to be solved and every complaint to be answered.

We want every crook who has received an unfair benefit to be (as we now always seem to say) “taken to task”.

Same huge debt
The new government has the same huge debt, the same shortage of cash and the same lack of resources the old government did.

It can move some money around and change some priorities — but it can never solve every problem.

But a government that is prepared to tolerate criticism has at least one advantage over one that is not.

It can hear from real people about where the real problems are.

That’s why freedom of expression is not just a nice thing to have.

It’s actually important to tell us what is going on.

This government, like the old one, will gradually become more complacent and unresponsive as it becomes burdened with the ordinary business of administration.

And that is why every democracy — at least every real one — prizes freedom.

Freedom to march
Freedom for people to criticise, to march in the street, to take the government to court, without being punished for it.

These are some of the tools we use to hold the government to account, to remind the politicians that it is about us, not them, and to embarrass the politicians into action.

But just as important is the responsibility on us not just to talk — but also to act.

Our new freedom also means freedom to get involved.

What are the things that are important to us?

Is it health?

Education?

Child poverty?

Prison reform?

Our local environment?

So what will we do?

Don’t take it for granted
We don’t need to be part of some official committee or NGO to fight for the things that are important to us.

We don’t need the government’s permission to hold a public forum to talk about problems and solutions.

After 15 years we need to be able to say to our leaders: “We’re in charge here. This is what we want. You work for us.”

They won’t always listen — but that’s what freedom is.

It was a close-run thing on Christmas Eve — but freedom is what we got.

So let’s not take it for granted.

Let’s use it.

Richard Naidu is a Suva lawyer who is fairly free with his opinions. The views in this article are not necessarily the views of The Fiji Times. Republished with permission.

Breakfast they say, is the most important meal of the day.

But last Wednesday it was possibly also the most dangerous. Because that’s when many people were likely to be reading The Fiji Times and choking over their corn flakes.

They could have been reading more pontification from the former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum about “constitutionalism” and “rule of law” and “the embodiment of the values and principles surrounding constitutions” . . . etc.

I am not often at a loss for words. But the sheer brazenness of someone who, in the course of nearly 16 years in government, paid little regard to any of these things, brought me pretty close.

Last weekend Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum gave a rambling press conference complaining about all manner of things the new coalition government was doing. I was so irritated I put out a long statement debunking the so-called “breaches of the Constitution” he was alleging.

But the man doesn’t give up.

He is clearly unmoved by any embarrassment he may feel about having first accepted a Constitutional Offices Commission appointment that got him kicked out of Parliament under the Constitution he drafted; and then resigning the COC position when he realised he could not do that job and also be the FijiFirst party general secretary.

All in the space of three days. That’s the legal equivalent of shooting yourself in both feet.

So let’s begin by talking about “rule of law”, because I am beginning to wonder if anyone in the FijiFirst party even understands what it means.

Rule of law
Let’s begin with what it does not mean. Rule of law does not mean “I made the laws, so I rule”. Rule of law is a much more complicated idea than that. Many people have tried to define it, in many different ways.

For those of us who are interested in it, it’s one of those things you sort of know when you see. But a central point of it, I think, is the idea that the law is more important than the people who make it or exercise power under it.

So that means that our rulers — like the people they make the rules for — must respect it in the same way that we have to. Lord Denning, a famous British judge (millennials — look up his role in Fiji’s history) repeated (and made famous) the words of the 18th century scholar, Thomas Fuller: “Be you ever so high, the law is above you.”

For more than a decade, the government of which Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was part of, paid little heed to this idea. It followed the law when it suited them, but ignored it when it didn’t suit them.

Let’s assume, for the moment, that he believed that the 2006 military coup (which the grovelling Fiji Sun once memorably described as “a change in direction of the government”) was lawful, together with the military government which followed.

That government continued to tell us it would follow the 1997 Constitution. But in April 2009 Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum could no longer believe that the military government was lawful. Because, in a case brought by deposed by deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, the Fiji Court of Appeal clearly told him that it wasn’t.

If you believed in rule of law, you would accept what the court had told you, quit your post and allow the lawful government to return, as the court required. He did not. Instead, he and his government decided that the 1997 Constitution had become inconvenient.

So they just trashed it. This was not rule of law. Aiyaz and the then government had instead decided that they were above the law.

The new constitution
Fast forward to 2012 and the process of a new constitution. We were told (in a pompous government media statement on 12 March 2012) that the then government was “looking to the future of Fiji and all Fijians”.

“During the process of formulating a genuine Fijian constitution,” we were told, “every Fijian will have the right to put their ideas before the constitutional commission and have the draft constitution debated and discussed by the Constituent Assembl . . .

“As the process continues with the Constitution Commission and the Constituent Assembly all Fijians will have a voice.”

What actually happened?

The well-known constitutional scholar Professor Yash Ghai was flown in to chair a new constitutional commission. His commission travelled around the country, gathering the views of the people on what a new constitution should say.

Hardly a perfectly democratic process, but better than nothing. The Ghai Commission drafted a new constitution. But the government didn’t like it. So much for the “voices” of Fijians. Out it went — constitution, commission and all. Six hundred printed copies of the draft constitution were dumped into a fire.

Professor Ghai was sent packing. Instead we were handed the 2013 Constitution, pretty much from nowhere. No “Constituent Assembly”. Nobody “had a voice”. So, was that all a process Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum might call (his word) “constitutionalism”?

Did things get any better?

So, at least the new Constitution, and the elections of 2014, were a new start. Maybe we could expect the new elected government, of which Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was chief legal adviser, to begin thinking about “rule of law” and “constitutionalism” and “embodying values and principles surrounding constitutions”?

Here’s one more important point about rule of law. It’s not just about the laws which tell you what to do and what not to do. It’s also about the law protecting your rights and freedoms — and protecting what you are allowed to do.

Your rights and freedoms under the 2013 Constitution include your rights of free expression, your rights to assemble and protest, your right to personal liberty — yes, the right not to be locked up at whim — among many others.

They even include the right to “executive and administrative justice” — that is, to be treated fairly by the government and its institutions. So a government that is applying the laws of the land ought to, while applying them (in the words of Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum) “embody the values and principles” of that Constitution.

How, then, were the “values and principles” of our Constitution being embodied when unions were repeatedly being denied the right to assemble and protest? How were they being embodied when under our media laws, journalists were threatened with jail for writing stories which were “against the national interest” (whatever that meant)?

How were the “values and principles” of our Constitution being embodied when public servants lived in permanent fear of arbitrary dismissal?

How were the “values and principles” of our democratic Constitution being embodied when the government passed important laws in Parliament, affecting things like our voting rights, citizenship, our rights to a fair trial and the regulation of political parties, all by surprise, on two days’ notice?

No cell time
There was an outcry earlier this week when police, over two days of questioning our former attorney-general, did not put him in a cell overnight. After all, former opposition politicians such as Sitiveni Rabuka, Biman Prasad and Pio Tikoduadua, when taken in for questioning for objecting to bad laws, were not so fortunate.

They got to spend a night in police custody. Why, people asked, was Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum getting special treatment? The answer? He was not getting special treatment. What was actually happening was that — for the first time in many years — the police were applying the law correctly.

If the person you are questioning is not a flight risk, there’s no need to lock him up. He is innocent until proven guilty. His personal freedom is more important than the convenience of the police.

He can sleep in his own bed and come back for more questioning tomorrow.

That would be, in Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s words, “embodying the values and principles of the Constitution”. But that is not something his government appeared to extend to its opponents when the police came calling. So I think we all deserve to be spared his lectures on “constitutionalism” for a little while.

Perhaps instead our former attorney-general might find it more valuable to take some time to quietly reflect on how well the governments of which he was part “embodied constitutional values and principles”. He has a total of nearly 16 years to reflect on — and not all of us have forgotten.

That ought to take a little while. And a few of us might then be able to enjoy more peaceful breakfasts.

Richard Naidu is a Suva lawyer and former journalist (although, to be honest, not a big breakfaster). The views in this article are not necessarily the views of The Fiji Times. Republished with permission.

By John Pulu, Tagata Pasifika presenter/reporter/director

It’s been a busy start for the newly elected leader of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka.

And while he’s only held the role for a little over a month, walking into the Prime Minister’s office felt familiar for the leader of the People’s Alliance (PA) party.

“The office dynamics are still the same,” he says.

• WATCH ON TAGATA PASIFIKA PLUS: Fiji FM Rabuka on the country’s future
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“It was just like going back to an old car or an old bicycle that you have driven before or ridden before.

“The people are new…[there’s] possible generational difficulties and views but I have not encountered any since the month I came into the office.”

However, his journey into office was not an easy one. After the initial tally of votes at last years’ December election, neither Rabuka nor his predecessor Voreqe Bainimarama had gained a comfortable majority to take Parliament.

Sodelpa (Social Democratic Liberal Party) became the kingmakers, voting to form a coalition with the PA, and they were joined by the National Federation Party (NFP).

Bainimarama out of office
For the first time since 2014, Bainimarama was out of office. Rabuka says they have not spoken since the election.

“There has been no communication since the outcome,” he says.

“It was something I tried to encourage when I was in the opposition and opposition leader, for across-the-floor discussions on matters that affect the nation.

“We grew up in the same profession…we are friends,” Rabuka insists.

However, there’s plenty else to keep Rabuka busy at this time.

The coalition trinity means more cooks in the kitchen, but Rabuka is confident that they can work together to lead Fiji.

“I worked with the National Federation Party in 1999. Sodelpa was the party I helped to register,” he recalls.

‘Differences in past’
“There might have been differences in the past but we are still family and it’s only natural for us to come together and work together again.”

They’ve already enacted a number of changes including lifting a ban on a number of Fijians who were exiled by the previous government.

“It’s interesting that many of those returning thought they were on a blacklist,” Rabuka muses.

“When we asked Immigration, Immigration [said] ‘there is no such thing as a blacklist, or anyone being prohibited from coming back’.

“They all came back and they were very happy. But it also reflected the freedom in the atmosphere.”

And speaking of freedom, investigations into former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum have reportedly been suspended.

Under investigation
According to FBC News, Sayed-Khaiyum was under investigation for allegedly inciting communal antagonism.

Rabuka says Sayed-Khaiyum is a person of interest, but isn’t yet subjected to any prosecution processes at this time.

“But if it develops from there, there might be restrictions on his movement – particularly out of Fiji.”

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Republished from Tagata Pasifika with permission.

Students at the Fiji-based regional University of the South Pacific have welcomed the announcement by the new coalition government to release $10 million in grants owed as Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka assured the region’s premier institution they were committed to restoring outstanding grant contributions totalling $78.4 million since 2019.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, along with Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad, had earlier said the reinstatement of Fiji’s grant contributions to the 12-nation USP was a promise they had made in their party manifestos during the election campaign.

USP Students Association (USPSA) secretary-general Emosi Vakarua said thousands of USP students were faced with new learning challenges brought about by covid-19 and exacerbated by the withholding of the obligatory grant payment by the former FijiFirst government.

• READ MORE: Other USP grants reports

“We appreciate the commitment made by the current government of Fiji in honouring its grant contribution with the latest installment,” he said in a statement.

“We thank the government of Fiji for restoring trust and confidence in the region and showing us the true meaning of our Pacific vuvale [family] partnership.”

He said the student body would continue to work closely with the USP Council and senior management in shaping Pacific futures.

Since 2019, the FijiFirst government remained steadfast in its decision to withhold grant contributions to USP until independent investigations into alleged mismanagement by current vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia were carried out, ultimately leading to Dr Ahluwalia and his wife’ being deported from Fiji.

Invitation by Rabuka
Professor Ahluwalia, who has since been operating in exile from USP’s Samoa campus, was offered an invitation by Rabuka last month to return to Fiji, a move that has gained widespread support from USP students and staff.

Early this month, Professor Ahluwalia congratulated Rabuka on being elected the new Fiji Prime Minister.

“The new government’s continued reassurance to resuming the payment of grants to USP is a great relief for staff and students and revives the longstanding relationship between Fiji and the regional institute,” he said.

“I look forward to working together with the new coalition government to strengthen the relationship between USP and Fiji.

“As a regional institution, USP will continue to serve its island countries, particularly Fiji and work hard to shape Pacific futures.”

Professor Ahluwalia also acknowledged Rabuka’s support and contribution towards the wholesome development of the institute over the past years through his chairmanship of the advisory committee appointed by the USP Senate to assist the Labasa campus with its various programmes.

It is understood a redeployment of funds from the 2022-2023 National Budget would allow the new government to release an initial $10 million to USP as Rabuka noted discussions were being held with USP about a repayment plan for grants owed alongside the restoration of the university’s annual grant, expected to be included.

Republished from Wansolwara News in collaboration.

Politicians can respond to the political rhetoric but claims that the new Fiji government has broken the law are a more serious matter, says prominent Suva lawyer Richard Naidu.

Reacting to FijiFirst general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s claims that there have been a number of incursions into the separation of powers since the government came in, Naidu said Sayed-Khaiyum had made no specific allegations that the People’s Alliance-led coalition had breached the “separation of powers”.

“In layman’s terms, ‘the separation of powers’ means only that the legislature (Parliament), the executive (Cabinet and civil servants) and the judiciary (judges and magistrates) should each ‘stay in their lanes’,” he said.

• READ MORE: ‘Claims a serious matter’, says lawyer Richard Naidu
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“They should not interfere in each other’s functions.

“Aiyaz has made no specific allegations that the new government has breached this concept. What law does he say has been broken?”

Naidu also questioned the procedures that were taken to set up the 2013 Constitution.

“Aiyaz’s FijiFirst party government applied the constitution as it suited them.

“It never set up the Accountability and Transparency Commission that the Constitution required (s.121); it never set up a Ministerial Code of Conduct as the Constitution required (s.149); it never set up a Freedom of Information Act as the Constitution required (s.150).

“This was, after all, his own government’s constitution.”

• Read Richard Naidu’s full article.

Rakesh Kumar is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Who’s broken the law? “Separation of powers” and all that stuff.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s hour-long news conference on Saturday, January 21, seems mostly to have followed the usual FijiFirst party format.

He pontificated at length while his party’s MPs stood silently behind him.

From what I could tell, Sayed-Khaiyum’s speech was a mixture of political criticism and claims about the law. The politicians can respond to the political rhetoric. But claims that the government has broken the law are a more serious matter.

Sayed-Khaiyum has raised a number of complaints suggesting that the new government has broken the law. He has not been very clear about why this is so. However, for the record, let’s go over these complaints (or at least what he seems to be suggesting):

that former Constitutional Offices Commission members were unlawfully removed from office

Wrong. The Commissioners were asked to resign. They did so. No law prevents them from resigning. If they had refused to resign, they would have remained in place (as others have done).

Sayed-Khaiyum says that the PM had “no authority” to ask them to resign. Wrong. Nobody needs “authority” to ask anyone else to commit a voluntary act. The former Constitutional Offices Commissioners are not the property of the FijiFirst party. No law has been broken.

that the Minister for Home Affairs should not have asked the Commissioner of Police to resign

Wrong. It is a free country. The minister may make any request he wants — and the commissioner may accept or refuse that request.

The commissioner refused the minister’s request, saying he wanted the Constitutional Office Commission process be followed. The commissioner remains in place.

No law has been broken.

that prayers at government functions breach the Constitution

Sayed-Khaiyum read out s.4 of the Constitution (“Secular state”) and claimed that at government functions prayers were now only offered in one religion (presumably the Christian one).

To suggest that this is something new — that this did not happen under the FijiFirst party government — is fantasy. And I too wish that those who offer prayers were sometimes a little more sensitive to other religions.

But that is not the point. The Constitution does not tell any of us how to pray.

No law has been broken.

“not referring to all citizens as Fijians”

The Constitution may refer to all citizens as “Fijians”. But the Constitution also guarantees freedom of speech. There is no law that says we must all call each other “Fijians”. We may call each other what we want.

No law has been broken.

replacing boards of statutory authorities before expiry of their terms

Sayed-Khaiyum should be specific. Which boards is he referring to? If board members have resigned and been replaced, then what I have already said about resignations also applies.

For a number of statutory bodies the minister has, under the relevant law, the power to appoint board members. This power generally includes the power to dismiss them.

Replacing boards or board members mid-term is certainly nothing new. Sayed-Khaiyum may recall a recent example while he was Minister for Housing. He requested the entire Housing Authority board to resign before the expiry of their terms (and they complied).

No law has been broken.

taking back ATS [Air Terminal Services] workers. Sayed-Khaiyum seems to think that because a court decided that ATS is not required to take the workers back, ATS cannot do so.

Wrong. Any parties to litigation — including employers and employees — can decide to settle their differences at any time — including after a court ruling. The new government has requested ATS to take its former employees back. If ATS has a legal problem with this, no doubt it will tell government.

No law has been broken.

that using vernacular languages in Parliament breaches Standing Orders

Other than for the formal process of electing the Speaker and the Prime Minister, Parliament has not yet even sat yet.

The new government wants to allow the use of vernacular languages in Parliament. The current Standing Orders do not permit this.

So, to allow the use of vernacular languages in Parliament, the government will have to propose changes to the Standing Orders and parliamentarians will have to vote for them. That is normal procedure (Standing Order 128).

No law has been broken.

“separation of powers”

Under the FijiFirst party government, this phrase seemed to be thrown around to justify anything. For example, the Parliament Secretariat would frequently refuse to allow opposition MPs to ask questions of government ministers because of “the separation of powers”.

This justification made no sense. Section 91 of the Constitution requires ministers to be accountable to Parliament.

In layman’s terms, “the separation of powers” means only that the legislature (Parliament), the executive (Cabinet and civil servants) and the judiciary (judges and magistrates) should each “stay in their lanes”.

They should not interfere in each other’s functions. Sayed-Khaiyum has made no specific allegations that the new government has breached this concept. What law does he say has been broken?

FijiFirst and the Constitution

Sayed-Khaiyum’s FijiFirst party government applied the Constitution as it suited them.

It never set up the Accountability and Transparency Commission that the Constitution required (s.121) It never set up a Ministerial Code of Conduct as the Constitution required (s.149).

It never set up a Freedom of Information Act as the Constitution required (s.150). This was, after all, his own government’s constitution.

His government treated Parliament — the elected representatives of Fiji’s people — with contempt. Almost all of its laws were passed under urgency (Standing Order 51).

Typically, parliamentarians got two days’ notice of what new laws the government was proposing, sometimes less. That meant no one had time to review the laws
or consult the people on them.

The FFP government treated the people’s laws as its own property. Sayed-Khaiyum complains about board members being removed and public service appointment rules not being followed. He says nothing about the numerous arbitrary terminations of many public servants under the FijiFirst party government, including the Solicitor-General and the Government Statistician.

It was no less than the Fiji Law Society president who this week described rule of law under the FijiFirst government as “sometimes hanging by a thread”.

Against this background, not many lawyers are prepared to listen to Sayed-Khaiyum lecture us on the law.

#LOCALNEWS Who’s broken the law? “Separation of powers” and all that stuff. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s hour-long news conference on Saturday, January 21, seems mostly to have followed the usual FijiFirst party format. #TimesNews #FijiNews #FijiPol https://t.co/sblh8koJBs

— The Fiji Times (@fijitimes) January 22, 2023

If you’ve got a problem, go to court

The “separation of powers” doctrine is also clear that if you have a problem with the lawfulness of any government action, the courts are there to solve that problem. It is the
courts who decide if anyone has breached the Constitution. It is not the secretary of the opposition political party.

So, if Sayed-Khaiyum has a complaint that the law has been broken, he should do what the rest of us do — take it to court. That is what he frequently told the Opposition to do when it complained about what his government did.

Sayed-Khaiyum has a little more time on his hands now. He is a qualified lawyer with a practising certificate. So — get on with it. Bring your complaints to court, because
that is where they belong. Should Sayed-Khaiyum really be lecturing us about the law?

Finally, Sayed-Khaiyum has still not explained to anyone how, in the space of three days in January, he got himself kicked out of Parliament by accepting a position on the Constitutional Offices Commission — and then had to resign from the Constitutional Offices Commission when asked how he could continue as general secretary of the Fiji First Party.

Should we really be taking legal advice from him?

Richard Naidu is a Suva lawyer and a columnist. The views in this article are not necessarily the views of The Fiji Times. Republished with permission.

Fiji’s 14 December 2022 election will go down as a momentous occasion in the nation’s history — including for potential impacts on Suva’s diplomatic ties with Pacific partners.

Immediate tasks identified by new Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s tripartite coalition include the revival of the pandemic-scarred economy, the re-examination of foreign relations, and the restoration of democratic institutions, which never quite recovered from the battering of the 2006 coup.

The election ended the 16-year reign of the FijiFirst government headed by Voreqe Bainimarama, the country’s larger-than-life figure after seizing power in 2006, before winning elections in 2014 and 2018.

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Bainimarama’s military background coupled with Fiji’s “coup culture” had raised concerns about a smooth transfer of power amid fears about the military being called to assist police.

For two weeks after the new government was finally sworn-in on Christmas Eve on a slim, three seat majority in the 55-member house, the country was on edge as tensions between the former and successor governments intensified.

Bainimarama’s actions suggested that he would not leave quietly. Not only did Bainimarama fail to concede, he did not bother to congratulate the new prime minister, as per democratic tradition.

To the contrary, Bainimarama upped the ante with belligerent media statements claiming the ruling coalition was engaging in “repressive conduct”, attacking the values and principles of the 2013 constitution, and that the country was “reliving the dark ages”.

Sharp rebuke
This was met with a sharp rebuke from Rabuka, who accused Bainimarama of bombarding the country with lies and trying to create racial disharmony alongside former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Police confirmed receiving a complaint against Bainimarama for “inciteful” statements, with a border alert issued for Sayed-Khaiyum should he return to Fiji for allegedly “inciting communal antagonism”.

It was a remarkable turn of events for what had been the two most powerful men in the FijiFirst government, which had ruled with an iron grip yet could only secure 42.5 per cent of the vote in December.

The government diffused a potentially risky situation, and despite a stand-off over the role of the police chief, seems to be in control so far.

The actions of military commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai have been crucial. In an address at the military’s end-of-year parade just a week before the elections, Kalaouniwai had ordered his troops to honour the democratic process and respect the wishes of voters.

Kalaouniwai’s pledge is significant in light of the description of Fiji by longstanding Pacific academic Professor Stewart Firth as a democracy by military permission. This was in reference to Fiji’s 2013 constitution mandating that “It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and well-being of Fiji and all Fijians”.

‘Hybrid regime’
Professor Firth calls this provision a “capacious definition of the military’s role that could easily be invoked to justify another coup”. In 2017, the Economist Intelligence Unit categorised Fiji as a “hybrid regime”, while the 2022 Freedom House report rated Fiji only as “partly free”.

Should the new government remain cohesive and the present situation prevail, it will mark Fiji’s first smooth transition of power. Rabuka staged the first two pro-indigenous Fijian coups in 1987 against perceived Indo-Fijian dominance. During his prime ministership from 1992–99, the former military commander had a change of heart and adopted a multiracial stance by forging a partnership with the late National Federation Party (NFP) leader Jai Ram Reddy to usher in the more equitable 1997 constitution, only to be rejected at the 1999 polls.

For Rabuka, re-claiming government is a vindication of his partnership with the NFP and its current leader, Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad. In his pre-election campaign Rabuka stressed the importance of social harmony in a country with “so many races, so many religions”.

Rabuka’s multiracial credentials in this ethnically tense country will be put to the test during his term.

The new government’s 100-day “first order of business” emphasises not just the economy, but democracy and human rights. A pledge to ensure “separation of powers” in crucial institutions such as the judiciary, “strengthen human rights”, and review the draconian 2010 Media Industry Development Act will be welcomed by international partners such as the United States, which is assembling a “community of democracies” to counter growing authoritarianism.

How the government handles its diplomatic relationships will be the focus of regional attention. Whereas the Bainimarama government enjoyed close relations with China, all three leaders of the coalition government have stated that they preferred to align with countries with democratic traditions.

While campaigning, Rabuka indicated that his government would forge closer ties with Fiji’s traditional partners, Australia and New Zealand, while distancing from China. But in a subsequent interview with the ABC in his first week in office, he changed tone, chiding Australia and the United States for their “colonial” mindset while praising China for seeing “us as just development partners”.

Largest development partner
While Australia is the largest development partner in the region, China remains an important actor in Fiji and the Pacific — a reliable source of development finance and aid, a market for the Pacific’s resources sector, including fisheries, and a growing source of tourists. Given its unprecedented debt challenges in the wake of the pandemic, Fiji is unlikely to scorn any source of development funds.

At a “New Approaches to Economic Progress” panel discussion in Suva last week, Professor Prasad, who also holds the finance portfolio, stated that the “task ahead of us is huge” and announced the forthcoming budget to be released in about six months will target job creation, the high cost of living and investor confidence.

Professor Prasad emphasised that ultimately Fiji’s progress hinges on social cohesion and political stability. Building consensus on major policy issues, equitable sharing of economic benefits, keeping the coalition intact and preventing the collapse of government will be the key challenges.

Dr Shailendra Bahadur Singh is associate professor and head of the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific. He is a research associate and board member of the Pacific Journalism Review and Asia Pacific Report and a member of the Asia Pacific Media Network. This article was first published in The Interpreter and is republished with permission.

Fiji’s opposition leader Voreqe Bainimarama has been warned to provide evidence of allegations he has made against the coalition government or face the full brunt of the law.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka issued the warning in a national address yesterday in response to Bainimarama’s claims that the situation in Fiji had deteriorated since Rabuka came into office.

Rabuka said he offered a hand of co-operation and wished to develop a positive relationship with the FijiFirst party, but Bainimarama has made it clear that he rejects the idea of both sides of Parliament working together.

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“In recent days, Mr Bainimarama has been bombarding the country with lies and misinformation,” Rabuka said.

“He alleges that Fiji is in some sort of crisis, that our new coalition government is engaged in repressive, oppressive conduct.”

He said Bainimarama went on to claim that Fiji was reliving the “dark ages” and that families were living in fear of job losses.

He said the former prime minister had also attempted to terrify the public by trying to create racial disharmony along with former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

‘Message for Bainimarama’
“Members of our coalition have a message for Bainimarama,” Rabuka said.

“On behalf of the people, we demand specific details of reports that you have received that we have acted unconstitutionally, contrary to the rule of law and in violation of good governance, and committed other transgressions.

“If he fails to provide the details of what he has published in his attempt to smear the image of our coalition, then he and those who are working with him are going to face consequences within the law.”

In a statement this week, Bainimarama claimed they had received “further reports of certain matters” that were taking place in government and that were detrimental to the Constitution, rule of law and governance.

Meanwhile, police public relations officer Ana Naisoro yesterday confirmed receiving complaints against the former prime minister, alleging his statements were inciteful.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

The opposition FijiFirst party still “seems to be confused” about the role of its general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, says prominent Suva lawyer Richard Naidu.

“Mr Sayed-Khaiyum appears to have triggered his exit from Parliament by accepting a position on the Constitutional Offices Commission,” he said.

“That means he is a ‘public officer’ as defined in the Constitution.

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“An MP who accepts appointment as a ‘public officer’ loses his seat in Parliament. That has already happened.

“Mr Bainimarama is now suggesting that Mr Sayed-Khaiyum will continue as general secretary of FijiFirst.

“But Mr Sayed-Khaiyum is still a ‘public officer’.

“Under section 14(1)(b) of the Political Parties (Registration Conduct Funding and Disclosures Act 2013) a ‘public officer’ is not eligible to be a political party official.

“In fact, under section 14(1)(a), while he holds office in the Constitutional Offices Commission, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum is not allowed even to be a member of the FijiFirst party.

“So FFP’s plans for Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, now that he is out of Parliament, still seem confused.

‘Other parties will be writing’
“No doubt other political parties will be writing to the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem, asking him to ensure that the FijiFirst party is complying with the law.”

Naidu was referring to a video statement on the FijiFirst party Facebook page on Tuesday night where FijiFirst leader Voreqe Bainimarama said Sayed-Khaiyum’s exit from Parliament would mean that “he will be able to fully concentrate on FijiFirst matters outside Parliament”.

“I will be leading the charge inside Parliament and he will be leading the charge outside Parliament,” Bainimarama said.

“So to ensure that we are constantly in touch with our supporters and all Fijians on a daily basis, I have tasked our general secretary to be our voice outside Parliament.

“He will be in our parliamentary office, he will give us advice and also issue statements on behalf of FijiFirst when Parliament is not sitting.”

Registrar of Political Parties Mohammed Saneem confirmed that any person taking up public office must ensure that they comply with section 14(1) of the of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013.

In a media statement issued after questions from The Fiji Times, he said public office holders according to section 14(1) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013 (Act) were not eligible to be an applicant or a member of a registered political party, not eligible to hold office in a registered political party, are not to engage in political activity that may compromise or be seen to compromise the political neutrality of that person’s office in an election; or publicly indicate support for or opposition to any proposed political party or a registered political party or candidate in an election.

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

The highly anticipated 2022 election last month was a very close, emotionally charged and highly controversial affair.

All that is behind us now and it is time to reflect on it critically and learn some important lessons as we welcome the dawn of 2023.

Despite the Supervisor of Elections’ prediction of a low percentage turnout of around the 50s, the actual turnout of 68.29 percent was surprisingly reasonable given the inconvenient December 14 date and other restrictions such as married women being required to change their names to the birth certificate ones, voting restrictions to one polling station and other legislative and logistical issues.

• READ MORE: Aiyaz ousted as Fiji MP over taking public office, rules Speaker
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The postal ballot votes had the highest turnout rate of 75.92 per cent and the others in descending order were: Northern Division (73.88 per cent); Eastern Division (69.98 per cent); Western Division (68.82 per cent); and Central Division (65.6 per cent).

This may sound ridiculous but it all came down to 658 voters, the equivalent of 0.14 percent of the votes, which enabled Sodelpa to stay above the 5 percent threshold.

It was this small number of voters who made the difference by giving Sodelpa the ultimate power broker position which enabled the People’s Alliance Party (PA)-National Federation Party (NFP) coalition to edge out the FijiFirst party (FFP) by a very slim margin after hours of horse trading followed by two rounds of voting.

However, this is what the voting calculus is all about — every vote counts and even one vote can make a substantial difference.

This is even more so in our Proportional Representation (PR) system, which was originally meant to encourage small parties to gain votes and be competitive against the dominant ones when it was first conceived in Europe in the early 1900s.

Theoretically, the idea is to shift the centre of power gravity from dominant parties to diverse groups to ensure that representation was more dispersed and democratic.

Thus, most countries with PR systems (there are different variants) have coalition governments.

New Zealand, which has two electoral systems merged into one (Mixed Member Proportional or MMP), consisting of the PR and First-Past-the-Post (FPP), has a history of coalitions since the PR component was introduced.

Other countries with coalition governments
Other countries which use the PR system are Israel, Columbia, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Nepal and Netherlands, to name a few, and they all have coalition governments.

But why didn’t this coalition electoral outcome happen in Fiji during the first two elections in 2014 and 2018 although these were held under the PR system?

The reason is because the FFP was able to effectively deploy what political scientists refer to as the “coattail effect” — the tactic of using a popular political leader to attract votes.

So in this case, statistics show that there has been a direct correlation between coattail votes for Voreqe Bainimarama, the FFP leader, and the electoral fortunes of the FFP.

For instance, Bainimarama was able to attract 40.79 percent of the total votes during the 2014 election and this enabled FFP to secure around 59.17 percent of the total national votes. Bainimarama’s votes went down to 36.92 percent during the 2018 election and this reduced the FFP voting proportion by 9.12 percent to 50.02 percent.

The decline in Bainimarama’s votes to 29.08 percent during the 2022 election also reduced the FFP’s votes to 42.55 percent, well below the 50 plus 1 mark needed by the party to remain in power.

The total decline of 11.71 percent of Bainimarama’s votes and 16.62 percent of the FFP votes between 2014 and 2022 is a worrying sign and if the trend continues, they may be hitting the 30 percent mark at the time of the 2026 election.

By and large, the swing of votes away from FFP was around 10 percent or so, with a shifting margin of around 3 to 4 percent.

The long Bainimarama coattail has slowly withered away over time.

Before the election I warned in a Fiji Times interview early in 2022 that given the diminishing trend of the FFP electoral support, together with other data, the party would be lucky to survive the 2022 election and thus would need a coalition partner.

I also said that the PA, NFP, Sodelpa and other parties would need to form a national coalition to be able to rule.

The writing was on the wall and it appeared that the FFP was going to be victim of the PR electoral system they introduced in an ironically Frankensteinian way.

‘Wasted votes’ and weakness of the PR system
The results of the 2022 election shows that the power gravity has shifted significantly and in future we are going to see governments in Fiji formed on the basis of coalitions and thus elections will need to be fought on the basis of party partnership.

This means that smaller parties, which have no hope of getting over the 5 percent threshold will need to make critical assessments and the only survival option is to join bigger parties which have more chances of winning.

Herein lies one of the weaknesses of our version of the PR system where the votes by the smaller parties, which cannot get over the 5 percent threshold, are considered “wasted”.

This is in contrast to the Alternative Voting (AV) system under the 1997 Fiji Constitution, which provided for losing votes to be recycled and used by other parties based on preferential listing. In the 2022 election, 35,755 votes were “wasted”, which equated to 4.81 percent of the total votes.

By Fiji standard, this was a relatively large number indeed.

However, the idea of “wasted votes” is a contentious one because, while from an electoral calculus point of view, these votes may serve no purpose and are deemed useless, from a political rights perspective, the votes represent people’s inalienable moral and democratic rights to make political choices, whatever the outcome, and thus must be respected and not condemned as wasted.

The new era of transformation
The small margin of 29 to 26 seats and indeed the intriguing 28-27 voting in Parliament should be reason for the Coalition government to be on its toes and not be complacent about the sustainability of the three-party partnership.

They must try as much as possible to maintain a united synergy through a win-win power sharing arrangement.

They have started this so far with the co-deputy prime ministership and portfolio sharing and this needs to deepen to other areas so that it is not seen as a marriage of convenience but a genuine attempt at nation building and transformation.

To keep their momentum going and mobilise more support and legitimacy, they need to use the diverse expertise and wide range of professional skills at their disposal to bring about meaningful, consultative, transparent and transformative policy changes for the country.

Part of the process will be to reverse some of the FFP’s fear-mongering, vindictive, controlling and authoritarian style of policymaking and leadership, which have left many victims strewn across our national landscape and which weakened support for the FFP.

While there are still flames of anger and vengeance burning in some people’s hearts as a result of victimisation by the previous regime, it is imperative now to listen to Nelson Mandela’s advice after he was released from jail — allow the mind to rule over emotions and move on with dignity.

We must break the cycle of political vengeance and vindictiveness, which became part of our political culture since 2006 and as prominent lawyers Imrana Jalal and Graham Leung have advised, it is important to ensure that changes are within the law and not driven by destructive emotions, or else we will be following the same path as the previous regime.

These will take a high degree of levelheadedness and moral restraint, qualities already displayed by the coalition leadership so far.

For the FFP, it is time to go back to the drawing board, rethink about their overreliance on coattail approach, re-strategise and reflect on why voters are deserting them.

They will no doubt be sharpening their daggers to get inside the coalition armour and target the weak links and vulnerable spots.

They will try all the tricks in the book to make the coalition partnership as shortlived as possible through destabilisation strategies and vote poaching by winning over an extra Sodelpa vote to add to the single mysterious vote, which went FFP way during the parliamentary vote for the Speaker and PM.

Sodelpa may need to warn the person concerned and if the betrayal does not stop after the next round of parliamentary vote then they may need to invoke Section 63(h) of the Constitution, which specifies that a parliamentarian can lose his or her seat if the person’s vote is “contrary to any direction issued by the political party…”

This will then open the door for Ro Temumu Kepa, who is next on the SODELPA party list, to take the vacant seat and help stabilise the coalition’s parliamentary position a bit more.

Some electoral lessons for the future
The intense political horse-trading, high pressure power manoeuvring and stressful competition for coalition partnership in the hours after the election has taught us a few lessons.

Firstly, political parties should now start thinking about forging partnerships because future elections can only be won through coalition.

PAP and NFP made a great move by getting into a coalition early and this worked out well for them.

The coalition government now has a head start.

Secondly, political parties should learn to be humble, not burn their bridges when they part with their old comrades nor should they feel super and invincible by trying to do things on their own. Old grievances can come back to haunt you if they are not addressed early

Thirdly, small parties need to pay attention to the electoral calculus and engage with parties, which have potential to propel them above the 5 percent threshold or join together as small parties to form larger political groupings before the election.

Fourth, voters will need to be smart and strategic about their votes to ensure that they are not wasted.

These “wasted” votes do make a difference in the end when the results are tallied.

Fifthly, given the need for partnerships, especially when margins are narrow, forging positive relationship and goodwill with other political parties early before elections can be rewarding political capital while vindictiveness and ill will can be destructive and regrettable political liabilities.

There is still time — about 48 months away before the next election.

Steven Ratuva is distinguished professor and pro-vice chancellor Pacific at the University of Canterbury and chair of the International Political Science Association Research Committee on climate security and planetary politics. This article was first published in The Fiji Times and is republished with permission.

FijiFirst Party general secretary and former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is no longer a Member of Fiji’s Parliament, says Speaker Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu.

Ratu Naiqama said formal notices had been served to Sayed-Khaiyum, advising him that he had lost his seat in the House.

“We have served notices to all his addresses,” the Speaker said.

• READ MORE: Fiji’s PM Rabuka hits back: ‘We’ve every right to appoint and disappoint’
• Fiji’s draconian media law to be repealed for ‘free society’, says Gavoka
• Other Fiji reports

Under Section 63(1)(b) of the 2013 Constitution, the seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the member — with the member’s consent — becomes the holder of a public office.

“The leader of the opposition [former PM Voreqe Bainimarama] is advising us to follow the law, so we are following the law.”

Sayed-Khaiyum was nominated to the Constitutional Offices Commission by Bainimarama and appointed by President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere.

Sayed-Khaiyum attended the first commission meeting on Sunday with Bainimarama.

The Constitutional Offices Commission meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

Attorney-General Siromi Turaga was also present at the forum.

The PM’s nominees were prominent lawyer Jon Apted and lawyer Tanya Waqanika.

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission

Bainimarama threatens Fiji government
Meanwhile, The Pacific Newsroom’s Michael Field writes that Bainimarama has “made it plain he is “out to bring down Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his coalition government”.

“In a Facebook rant, the defeated former prime minister said Rabuka’s “three uneven legged stool government” must be stopped.

‘“We are here to ensure they do not get away with it,” [Bainimarama] said.

‘“We are here to ensure that your voices are heard, in what is already unfolding as an oppressive and vindictive regime that feeds on suppression of a free flow of ideas, division, racism, religious chauvinism, bigotry, exclusivity and colonialism.”’

“Merry Christmas Fiji!”

This was the message to Fiji from kingmakers Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) management board member and MP Tanya Waqanika after their meeting in Suva ended this evening.

Asked whether her Christmas wishes meant good news for the people of Fiji, she responded: “Free at last.”

Waqanika was one of the 26 management board members who participated in the secret ballot — which voted in favour of a coalition with the People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party, the second time in barely 72 hours that the board backed the coalition.

• READ MORE:  Sodelpa joins Fiji coalition with Rabuka’s Alliance in split vote
• Tight Fiji police security for new Sodelpa party board meeting
• ‘Writing on the wall’ for authoritarian FijiFirst government, says Ratuva
• ‘PM at first sitting’ — Fiji’s former elections chief explains how
• Fijian Aucklanders see promise and hope with Rabuka as likely PM
• ‘Nothing to concede’, says FijiFirst in wake of contested election
• Reports of ‘anomalies’ in Sodelpa vote to go with opposition parties
• New chapter for Fiji — Rabuka to lead coalition
• Other Fiji elections reports

This vote confirms the end of 16 years of domination of Fiji politics by 2006 coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama — half as the military leader and the rest as an elected FijiFirst party prime minister.

It will usher in a new era with coalition rule and 1987 coup leader and former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka heading the government.

A secret ballot held at the meeting at the Southern Cross Hotel resulted in 13 votes for the PAP-NFP coalition and 12 for the FijiFirst Party.

‘Anomalies’ forced new vote
In Tuesday’s vote, the numbers were 16-14 in favour of the People’s Alliance-led coalition. However the validity of that vote was challenged over claimed “anomalies”.

Party vice-president Anare Jale said the next step now was to work on a coalition agreement.

He said that agreement would detail all the information and work that would be taking place today and during the holidays.

“Hopefully, something will be concluded and signed on Wednesday next week,” Jale said at the press conference after the day-long Sodelpa meeting.

Timoci Vula is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

• Parliament will hold a vote for the new prime minister, expected to Sitiveni Rabuka, on Saturday.

#Proclamation summoning #Parliament of the Republic of #Fiji
Click https://t.co/64m3AOG68v#FijiNews #TeamParliament pic.twitter.com/Htkc7AsGrD

— Fijian Parliament (@fijiparliament) December 23, 2022

Not out of the woods yet
RNZ Pacific reports that Fijians will have to hold back their celebration until a final decision is made on the floor of Parliament, where MPs will cast their votes for the next prime minister and speaker of the house in a secret ballot.

Soldepa vice-president and head of negotiations Anare Jale told media urgency was the utmost priority for the party.

“What we are doing today is to issue directives to our three members of Parliament on how they are going to vote for the position of speaker and also prime minister,” Jale said.

“We know Parliament will convene shortly, so, more the reasons these directive needs to be in the hands of the members of Sodelpa’s MP in Parliament.”

He added that a coalition agreement was to follow in the next few days … “Hopefully, something can be concluded and signed by Wednesday.”

A complaint lodged against FijiFirst general secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum for alleged incitement at the Totogo Police station yesterday has been handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho said this today in a statement.

Yesterday, People’s Alliance general secretary and registered officer Sakiasi Ditoka lodged a police complaint against Sayed-Khaiyum, alleging comments he made during a news conference this week incited racial hatred, violence and communal antagonism.

• READ MORE:  Tight Fiji police security for new Sodelpa party board meeting
• ‘Writing on the wall’ for authoritarian FijiFirst government, says Ratuva
• ‘PM at first sitting’ — Fiji’s former elections chief explains how
• Fijian Aucklanders see promise and hope with Rabuka as likely PM
• ‘Nothing to concede’, says FijiFirst in wake of contested election
• Reports of ‘anomalies’ in Sodelpa vote to go with opposition parties
• New chapter for Fiji — Rabuka to lead coalition
• Other Fiji elections reports

Commissioner Qiliho said the complaint had been handed over to the CID and that investigators were conducting their analysis before the next course of action was decided.

Sodelpa meeting
Meanwhile, Talebula Kate reports that members of the media covering the Sodelpa management board meeting at the Southern Cross Hotel in Suva have now been allowed near the hotel but remain outside the premises on the public walkway.

When the final election results were announced around 4pm on Sunday, many Fijians, at home and around the world, breathed a collective sigh of relief: the government of coup-maker Voreqe Bainimarama looked like it had finally been defeated at the ballot box.

Could it be that the militarised political culture, pervasive in Fiji since the 1987 coups, was finally being effectively challenged — peacefully?

Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Party (FFP) collected 42.55 percent of votes, well short of the majority needed to return to power. The closest rival, the People’s Alliance Party (PAP), led by 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka, won 35.82 percent, followed by the National Federation Party (NFP) on 8.89 pecent and the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) with 5.14 percent of the votes.

• READ MORE: As Fiji prepares to vote, democracy could already be the loser
• Fiji’s other crisis: away from the covid emergency, political dissent can still get you arrested
• Two past coup leaders face off in Fiji election as Australia sharpens its focus on Pacific

Total voter turnout was 68.28 percent, less than the 71.92 percent at the 2018 election. With the Unity Fiji and Fiji Labour parties not reaching the required 5 percent threshold to gain seats under Fiji’s proportional representation system, the maths indicated a dead heat –– and some anxious coalition horsetrading.

The vote shares mean FFP will have 26 seats in the new 55-seat Parliament, the PAP 21, NFP 5 and SODELPA 3. The PAP and NFP had already signed a pre-election agreement to form a coalition, meaning they are tied with the FFP on 26 seats.

Led by Viliame Gavoka, Sodelpa was suddenly thrust into the role of kingmaker. Given its fraught history with both FFP and PAP, the stage was set for some hard bargaining on all sides this week.

Family ties
The PAP, in fact, is a breakaway faction of Sodelpa. The divorce was bitter and littered with bruised souls. A faction within Sodelpa wanted nothing to do with Rabuka and the PAP.

On the other hand, Sodelpa’s relationship with FijiFirst has been equally strained. The founding leader of Sodelpa, the late prime minister Laiseni Qarase, was deposed, arrested and jailed following Bainimarama’s 2006 coup.

But there is a personal link between Sodelpa and the FFP, whose secretary general (as well as Attorney-General and Minister for the Economy in the previous government) is Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. An Indo-Fijian Muslim, Sayed-Khaiyum is the son-in-law of Sodelpa leader Viliame Gavoka, an indigenous Fijian (Taukei).

While this multiracial connection may have its political advantages, the reality is that many in Sodelpa vehemently oppose Sayed-Khaiyum for what they view as his imposing and arrogant style.

Return of Rabuka
There were early indications that Sodelpa might go with the PAP and NFP partnership to form a grand coalition, and that played out as by Friday the party’s management board had carried out two votes, both giving a very narrow margin in support of the grand coalition (16-14 then 13-12). Ideologically and politically, Sodelpa and PAP share the same basic vision and strategies regarding indigenous Fijian issues — after all, they were once the same party.

#LATEST Fiji’s kingmaker, Sodelpa has announced it’s joining Sitiveni Rabuka-led People’s Alliance-National Federation (PA-NFP) coalition to form the next government.https://t.co/57wLytvuHf

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) December 23, 2022

Gavoka and Rabuka are similar in various ways. They both have ethno-nationalist tendencies and embrace fundamentalist evangelical Christian doctrines. Gavoka has advocated setting up a Fijian embassy in Jerusalem, and Rabuka has been known as an admirer of Israel since he was commander of Fijian peacekeepers in the Middle East in the 1980s.

Furthermore, Sodelpa has been under pressure from its international and local branches (which fund the party) not to entertain any FFP coalition proposals. The message coming through from supporters is that their votes for Sodelpa were also votes against FFP.

There have also been fears that an alliance between Sodelpa and FFP could provoke old grievances and escalate into wider political instability.

Lastly, “non-negotiables” laid down by Sodelpa include enacting policies that promote indigenous Fijian interests (including the reinstatement of the Great Council of Chiefs (which Bainimarama abolished), forgiving scholarship debt and setting up a Fiji embassy in Jerusalem.

These are similar to the PAP policies in the party manifesto but quite different from the FFP positions.

Culture change
If the election sees FijiFirst finally leave power, there is the potential for democratic progress. One of the major challenges for an incoming new government will be reform of the country’s civil service, judiciary, education and health systems, and the economy in general.

Over the years, Fiji society has been configured in ways that suit the narrow ideological interests and centralised control of the FFP. Security, public order and media laws have been used to undermine democratic debate, free expression and public engagement.

Democratising the institutions of state and making them more relevant will be a huge task. It will require significant financial, political and intellectual resources. It also has ramifications in the wider Pacific region, given Fiji’s role as an economic, communications and political hub.

Many Pacific leaders, including in Australia and New Zealand, have been unhappy with Fiji under the Bainimarama-Kaiyum axis. Actions such as the government’s refusal to release more than FJ$80 million in funding for the University of the South Pacific — creating a major crisis at the regional institution — only reinforce such perceptions.

Tense times, sense of Déjà vu in Fiji. As I wrote in ‘Anticipation & Apprehension in Fiji’s 2022 Election’ historically elections are riskiest period in Fiji. Anticipation of election turning into Apprehension about its outcome. The backgrounder is here:https://t.co/g3cxFhHyxo https://t.co/rivuVf1fGA

— Dr Shailendra B Singh (@ShailendraBSing) December 22, 2022

This time, Rabuka and Bainimarama — both former military leaders and coup makers — have used the democratic electoral system rather than guns and force to try to win to power. But behind them sits a culture of command and control that will be difficult to dislodge.

This is subtly woven into various aspects of the 2013 Constitution, such as the role of the military as the nation’s constitutional security watchdog. But there is growing confidence that the chances of another military coup following this election are virtually nil.

Fiji’s civil service and operations of state have incorporated micromanagement, authoritarianism and coercion as part of the institutional culture. The test will be to ensure that a coalition of parties can rule together in a way that expands political participation and enhances democracy.

Dr Steven Ratuva is director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Tight police security will greet the Sodelpa management board meeting in Suva tomorrow when it will again decide the political party it will form a coalition with to run the Fiji government for the next four years.

The decision came after hours of deliberation today by the Sodelpa working committee — headed by party acting deputy leader Aseri Radrodro — where members discussed the “anomalies” in the previous board meeting held at the Yue Lai Hotel in Suva on Tuesday.

That meeting of the 30-member board decided by a margin of 16-14 to form a coalition with the People’s Alliance party of former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka and the National Federation Party. This would give the coalition a slender majority of 29 in the 55-seat Parliament.

• READ MORE:  ‘Writing on the wall’ for authoritarian FijiFirst government, says Ratuva
• ‘PM at first sitting’ – Fiji’s former elections chief explains how
• Fijian Aucklanders see promise and hope with Rabuka as likely PM
• ‘Nothing to concede’, says FijiFirst in wake of contested election
• Reports of ‘anomalies’ in Sodelpa vote to go with opposition parties
• New chapter for Fiji – Rabuka to lead coalition
• Other Fiji elections reports

However, some issues were identified by the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem, after that Sodelpa board meeting.

Speaking to news media today, Radrodro said the agenda of the new meeting was to decide which party they would join.

The meeting will be held at the Southern Cross Hotel in Suva at 10am tomorrow.

Sodelpa’s negotiating team will be headed by party vice-president Anare Jale.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times journalist. Republished with permission.

Military forces deployed
Meanwhile, RNZ Pacific reports that Fiji’s military forces are being deployed to maintain security and stability in the country following reports of threats made against minority groups.

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho announced the move, calling it a joint decision with the commander of Fiji’s military forces, Major-General Jone Kalouniwai.

As of 3pm Fiji time, RNZ Pacific’s correspondent in Suva, Kelvin Anthony, reported there were no visible signs of increased police or military presence.

Commissioner Qiliho said the decision was based on official reports and intelligence received of planned civil unrest and the targeting of minority groups.

The military deployment comes less than 24 hours after the ruling FijiFirst party made its first public statement since the December 14 election.

Party secretary-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said they respected the outcome of the election, but did not recognise the validity of the opposition coalition and would not concede defeat.

Sayed-Khaiyum said under the country’s constitution, the FijiFirst government remained in place and Voreqe Bainimarama was still the prime minister of Fiji.

He said this could only be changed once the vote for prime minister was held on the floor of Parliament.

Under section 131 (2) of Fiji’s constitution, the military has the “overall responsibility” to ensure the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

The incumbent FijiFirst government’s appeal was beginning to wane and voters deserted the party “because of what they saw as their authoritarian, non-inclusive, controlling and vindictive style of leadership”, says a leading Fijian academic with an international reputation.

Professor Steven Ratuva, director of the New Zealand-based University of Canterbury’s Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, said: “The writing was on the wall for the Voreqe Bainimarama-led party for some time”.

“People could hardly openly complain and criticise the government as one would expect in a democracy, fearing the consequences,” he said.

• READ MORE:  ‘PM at first sitting’ – Fiji’s former elections chief explains how
• Fijian Aucklanders see promise and hope with Rabuka as likely PM
• ‘Nothing to concede’, says FijiFirst in wake of contested election
• Reports of ‘anomalies’ in Sodelpa vote to go with opposition parties
• New chapter for Fiji – Rabuka to lead coalition
• Other Fiji elections reports

A coalition of the People’s Alliance Party and National Federation Party with 26 seats combined with Sodelpa’s crucial three seats claims that it has a majority in the expanded 55-seat Parliament for Sitiveni Rabuka to lead as Prime Minister.

Referring to the internal issues erupting within the kingmaker Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), Professor Ratuva said it was time to respect the wishes of voters rather than the “hunger for power” and grievances of individual political players.

He said the Sodelpa split which led to the formation of the People’s Alliance was unfortunate “with lots of bruised souls and egos who harboured very deep resentment and clamour for vengeance”.

The issue was a complex mixture of “traditional vanua politics, personality power struggle and liumuri (backstabbing)” that was now unashamedly being played out in public.

It’s the big day today! We will get to know the make-up of our Parliament. The results saw FijiFirst leading the vote count — but failing to gain a majority (26 seats) — followed by the People’s Alliance (21), the National Federation Party (5) and the Social Democratic Liberal Party (3).

Pundits were predicting Sodelpa could become ‘kingmakers” in the event of a tight finish, and based on them getting past the threshold!

Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem has not announced the total voter turnout, but he said yesterday this figure would be known today.

• READ MORE: Last shall be first … Fiji’s kingmaker party considering all options
• Fiji elections: Indigenous issues ‘paramount with us’, says Gavoka on coalition talks
• Fiji elections: End 16 years of nation’s ‘bullying, corrupt’ government, pleads Beddoes
• Fiji elections: Rabuka calls for calm after police interrogation
• Other Fiji election reports

The 353,247 figure he released on Election Day, he said, was from 1200 or so polling stations, not 1400. There can be no doubts about the interest now focused on the outcome.

It had been a fiery tussle leading up to the elections on December 14.

Campaigns inched out attacks that turned ugly at times, and some became personal. When it mattered, we were told of a low voter turnout. All that will now be cast aside as we await the final announcement.

Will there be an outright winner?

Or will there be a role for Sodelpa to play? Voters would be keenly following how the numbers add up.

The atmosphere has been supercharged, highly emotional, and driving through divisions as party followers cling onto hope.

There is great suspense and anxiety! It isn’t a pleasant scenario.

The Supervisor of Elections has been highly visible, answering questions raised by party supporters and the local and international media.

In the face of that sits the voter, each with emotional responses that are on a leash. There were questions raised by political parties following that glitch on the first night of counting.

Press conferences were called by the parties highlighting their views on the turn of events. Social media has also been rife with claims and counter claims.

In saying that, the race was tight! That sets the stage for the big announcement. For whatever it’s worth, the result will end speculation and may raise discussions on eventualities if things don’t end the way the leading party leaders want it to.

The guessing game is on! Rumours were rife in the Capital City, and emotions were quite intense in many quarters. But we wait with bated breath for the big reveal!

This editorial was published in The Sunday Times on 18 December 2022 and has been edited slightly in the light of developments. Republished with permission.

The Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) has emerged as the kingmaker in Fiji’s contentious 2022 general election and its leader Viliame Gavoka is in no rush to punch his golden ticket.

After a nightmare leadup to the election, with infighting resulting in a massive split in the party, many punters had all but written Sodelpa off ahead of last week’s polls.

The major opposition political party in the last Parliament, Sodelpa is now a shadow of its former self, just scraping through the electoral system’s 5 percent threshold by the skin of its teeth.

• READ MORE: Fiji elections: Indigenous issues ‘paramount with us’, says Gavoka on coalition talks
• Fiji elections: End 16 years of nation’s ‘bullying, corrupt’ government, pleads Beddoes
• Fiji elections: Rabuka calls for calm after police interrogation
• Other Fiji election reports

Its three Parliamentary seats are the lowest number of any party in the new Parliament and its leadership will be all too aware that the kingmaker position it now finds itself in — courted by parties on all sides — is probably the most leverage it will have for the coming four-year-term.

Speaking to media in the capital Suva yesterday, Gavoka said the party had 14 days to consider its options.

“We are not in any hurry, we understand the importance of this but we’re not gonna rush. We are going to do this properly but with urgency,” he said.

Gavoka said they were speaking to all parties but he was keeping his distance from the process.

“I am not part of the negotiating team. We set the parameters for negotiations, and we have redefined what is non-negotiable and what is negotiable and that is handed over to the negotiating team to talk to both parties,” he said.

“All those policies were collectively framed by the management board.”

So, what are Sodelpa’s non-negotiables?
Given that Sodelpa’s campaign slogan was “Time for change”, Gavoka is going to have to come up with something better than “we will make the best decision for Fiji” to convince his hardcore followers to swallow the pill of a partnership with FijiFirst.

Gavoka has provided assurance to Sodelpa’s supporters that whatever coalition it agrees to, its iTaukei policies will prevail:

• Reestablishment of the Great Council of Chiefs;
• Education policy — free tertiary and forgiveness of the student loan (TELS); and
• Set up an embassy in Jerusalem. “Fiji being a very Christian country, we want our presence in the Holy Land.”

When Gavoka was pressed by media on his close family ties to FijiFirst’s general secretary – his son-in-law, Aiyaz-Sayed Khaiyum, his response appeared non-committal.

“You know, we’ve been political rivals in Parliament for eight years and that’s pretty clear. In the form of Parliament, there’s no family but outside Parliament you’re family.”

On the other hand, there is lingering distrust between Sodelpa and its former leader Sitiveni Rabuka, whose new People’s Alliance Party has emerged the runner-up in its election debut with 21 parliamentary seats, just behind FijiFirst’s 26.

Rabuka believes a partnership with Sodelpa is the best fit.

‘Natural for us’
“I think it’s natural for us to forge a coalition because when we look at our manifestos and policies, and vision statements, etc. they are in harmony and all of them individually and collectively are diametrically opposed to the FijiFirst policy reforms,” Rabuka said.

No agreement has yet been signed by either but talks are underway.

“We’ve taken it as far as they gave us the opportunity for yesterday, we provided our team to talk with the team, and the result of that has not come back to us,” said Rabuka.

Rabuka has confirmed that he has not spoken directly to the Sodelpa leader.

“I’m in the process of doing so.”

Gavoka, however has said he would rather not.

“You don’t want to insert yourself into the negotiations. Our people are negotiating with their people. The two leaders are best to stay apart. That’s the way I’d like to do it,” said Gavoka.

The other potential coalition partner should Sodelpa go with Rabuka over Bainimarama is the National Federation Party, led by Professor Biman Prasad.

‘A reasonable man’
Sodelpa and NFP have spent the past two parliamentary terms in the opposition.

“I’ve had a talk with the Sodelpa team, and also met the leader Bill.

“Bill and I have worked together before and he has always been a reasonable man,” Professor Prasad said.

“I think he understands the enormity of why people have voted us from the opposition and voted for a new government. And I’m sure he understands it, we understand it, and Mr Rabuka understands it and I think it looks very positive.”

The Sodelpa management board will be meeting today to consider both coalition proposals.

Meanwhile, despite RNZ Pacific attempts to get comments from FijiFirst it has not received a response.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Former opposition Sodelpa member Mick Beddoes has appealed to the party’s management board to end the 16-year rule of Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst government.

In an open letter on his official Facebook page to Sodelpa vice-president Ro Teimumu Kepa, president Ratu Manoa Roragaca, leader Viliame Gavoka and the management board today, Beddoes said: “After many years of inner turmoil, you have the entire country holding their breath to hear your decision, which will either deliver to our people a Christmas gift unlike any we have had for the past 16 years or you will knowingly condemn us all to another four more years of undeserved vindictive, bullying, corrupt, self serving, self enriching and uncaring governance.”

He added that the decision to stay with the people was a “no brainer” to avoid a “hung” parliament.

• READ MORE: Fiji elections: Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party fails to gain parliament majority
• Fiji elections: Rabuka calls for calm after police interrogation
• Fiji elections: Alliance leads early vote tally – Bainimarama heads candidates
• Fiji elections: ‘We have evidence’ People’s Alliance ahead, says Rabuka
• Fiji elections: Rabuka raises concern over results app glitch
• Provisional results in Fiji election show ruling FijiFirst party in the lead
• Other Fiji election reports

The official results indicated that FijiFirst had lost its majority with just 26 members of the expanded 55-seat Parliament — the same combined number as the opposition coalition of the People’s Alliance led by former 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka (21 members) and the National Federation Party (5 seats).

Soldelpa – the only other party of nine contesting the general elections to get across the 5 percent threshold — hold the balance of power with three seats.

“While the decision to stay with the greater interest of all our people, is a ‘no brainer’ I do appreciate the need for the party to take into account the interests and aspirations of its membership,” Beddoes said.

“However, in doing so it has to be weighed against the greater interest of our nation given we have all witnessed in broad daylight and experienced over the past 16 years the greed and self enrichment by the narrow interests of the favored few and as the voting thus far has very clearly indicated por people want change and we as opposition political leaders are ‘obliged to deliver this’ as this is what we promised.”

‘Theft’ of the Fijian name
“Need I remind you that this is the very same government who raided your home at night and took you in for interrogation because you offered to host the Methodist Church Conference, this is the same government who from 2007 to 2013 imposed more than 17 derogatory decrees against your own people, which among other things included the ‘theft’ of the name Fijian from your people by a stroke of a pen, and they banned the right of educated iTaukei students from attending and supporting their respective provincial councils.

“They have excluded your own people from chair positions and board appointments by a margin of 80 percent from all government entities under the guise of ‘merit based’ appointments.

“When they had the opportunity to remove all these oppressive and discriminatory decrees at the time they drafted and imposed their 2013 constitution prior to the 2014 elections, they did not and it remains the law against your people today and they built in provision into the constitution that makes amendments to the constitution near impossible.

“This government’s policies and deliberate discrimination against your own people has resulted your people accounting for 75 percent of our 208,256 absolute poorest citizens, which means more than 156,192 of your own people live in absolute poverty despite owning 89 percent of all the land and you want to even ‘consider’ talking to them?”

Beddoes said Ro Teimumu led Soldelpa in the first opposition challenge that resulted in their first national platform from which to speak out and he was part of the team then.

“In that first effort in 2014, Sodelpa and its opposition colleagues received 202,650 votes to FijiFirst’s 293,714, we were 91,064 short. In our second effort in 2018, we increased our support level to 227,094 vs FijiFirst’s 227,241 and reduced their advantage to just 147 votes.

“Today while we are all still trying to figure out where all the extra votes came from the latest vote tally show we are at this time 58,635 votes ahead and you, Marama, are once again in a position with Bill and your management board to complete the mission we all started back in 2007 and remove the cruel, vindictive, bullying, arrogant, disrespectful and uncaring government that FijiFirst is.

“I beg you Marama, Ratu Manoa and you Bill and your management board, please do not waiver from our initial promise of change and finish the mission we started 15 years ago and end our 16 years of suffering and please give our people the Christmas gift they all deserve.”

Sodelpa in negotiations with both sides
SBS News reports that Sodelpa is in negotiations with both the FijiFirst government and People’s Alliance over which it will support with its balance of power.

Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party is the largest single party with 42.5 per cent of the vote while People’s Alliance and the NFP — which have already said they would join forces — sit at 36 and nine percent respectively.

Sodelpa holds just over five percent of the vote.

Sodelpa general secretary Lenaitasi Duru said today it would enter a second round of negotiations with both parties.

Talebula Kate is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Rabuka says “no deal signed yet. Negotiations are ongoing” with Sodelpa. #FijiVotes2022 https://t.co/yTsVanBO2K pic.twitter.com/lLAb744TbU

— Kelvin Anthony (@kelvinfiji) December 18, 2022

The final results of the 2022 Fiji general election are in and there appears to be a “hung” Parliament

The make-up of the new 55 seat Parliament — according to the Fiji Elections Office results app — will be FijiFirst with 26 seats, the People’s Alliance Party with 21 seats, the National Federation Party with 5 seats and the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) with 3 seats.

In order to be able to form government 28 seats are needed.

• READ MORE: Fiji elections: Rabuka calls for calm after police interrogation
• Fiji elections: Alliance leads early vote tally – Bainimarama heads candidates
• Fiji elections: ‘We have evidence’ People’s Alliance ahead, says Rabuka
• Fiji elections: Rabuka raises concern over results app glitch
• Provisional results in Fiji election show ruling FijiFirst party in the lead
• Other Fiji election reports

This means that for the first time since the return of democracy to Fiji in 2014, the 2006 coup leader and incumbent Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s dominant FijiFirst Party has failed to secure the majority of seats to rule.

Bainimarama will now need to woo at least one of the three opposition party leaders to join him if he is to remain in power.

The People’s Alliance Party — led by 1987 coup leader and former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka — and the National Federation Party, led by Professor Biman Prasad, formed a pre-election coalition and are unlikely targets for the FijiFirst leader.

But Sodelpa, led by Viliame Gavoka, made no such pre-election promises.

Gavoka also has close family ties to Bainimarama’s right-hand man and the Attorney-general Aiyaz-Sayed Khaiyum.

There is also bad blood between Sodelpa and Rabuka, who broke away from the party to form his current People’s Alliance Party, after having led Sodelpa through the last election in 2018.

Supervisor of elections Mohammed Saneem said the official elections results would be handed over to the Electoral Commission later this afternoon.

‘Not hypocritical’, says Duru
The Fiji Times reports that Sodelpa’s general secretary Lenaitasi Duru denied that the party was being hypocritical negotiating with FijiFirst.

“It’s not hypocritical if you’re going to bring change by joining FFP leader Voreqe Bainimarama,” Duru told the media outside the party headquarters in Suva.

“Right now we’re sitting in the middle, we’re watching and waiting for what is on offer.

“Then, we’ll make the decision based on what’s best for the nation.”

When questioned on the possibility of the party dropping below the five percent threshold he told The Times they are holding on and hoping for the best.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

The People’s Alliance Party took an early lead in the Fiji general election vote tally this evening with a total of 21,810 votes recorded after the completion of counting from 470 of the 2071 polling stations.

The governing FijiFirst Party was in second place with 16,515 votes and SODELPA running third with 3684 votes.

The National Federation Party followed with 3256 votes and Unity Fiji in fifth place with 1688 votes.

• READ MORE: Fiji elections: ‘We have evidence’ People’s Alliance ahead, says Rabuka
• Fiji elections: Rabuka raises concern over results app glitch
• Provisional results in Fiji election show ruling FijiFirst party in the lead
• Other Fiji election reports

The other results by party as at the 5pm update provided by the Fijian Elections Office are:

Fiji Labour Party – 1269
We Unite Fiji Party – 1179
All Peoples Party – 614
New Generation Party – 175
Rajendra Sharma (Independent) – 26
Ravinesh Reddy (Independent) – 21

The top five candidates at that update were:

Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama – 11,248
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka – 6738
Lynda Diseru Tabuya – 1397
Siromi Dokonivalu Turaga – 1048
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum – 927

Counting continues at the National Count Centre and the next update is due to be provided by the Supervisor of Elections at 10pm.

Timoci Vula is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Fiji’s military will respect electoral process – Kalouniwai
RNZ Pacific reports that the Fiji military commander has rejected a request by opposition party leaders to intervene in a dispute over the country’s election process.

Major-General Jone Kalouniwai said the military (RFMF) as an institution would put its trust in the electoral process.

“I wish to reassure the people of Fiji that the RFMF will not respond to [PAP leader Sitiveni ] Rabuka’s insistence or any political party, that we intervene under our responsibilities from Section 131.2 of the 2013 Constitution,” Kalouniwai said.

“The constitutional responsibility of the RFMF section 131.2 does not make any reference to intervening or getting involved with the electoral processes or management of voting or counting of votes with the assistance of the military.”

Kalouniwai explained that using the military in any form during the electoral process was unconstitutional.

The statement came after a group of opposition party leaders called for a halt to vote counting yesterday, demanding an audit of the country’s electoral system.

It was triggered by an anomaly in provisional results that was displayed on a Fiji Election Office results app on Wednesday night.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

The official count for the 2022 Fiji general election is now underway and there are early signs incumbent Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama could lead his FijiFirst Party to form a government for a record third term.

That is unless the numbers shift significantly towards its major rivals, the People’s Alliance Party, the National Federation Party and Sodelpa when the final results start to trickle in.

At 7am today, the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) office released its final set of provisional results — that counted 59 percent of the total vote — which shows Bainimarama’s FFP collected 162,084 votes or 45.9 percent of the total votes cast across 1238 out of 2071 polling stations on election day.

• READ MORE:  Fiji elections: Poll data app back online after late night glitch
• Fiji elections: Polls close and early results favour People’s Alliance
• Voters share ‘integrity and truth’ vision of a strong Fijian democracy
• Fijians brave the heat as numbers swell – but elections chief calls for voters
• Voters turn up in numbers as Fiji’s 2022 election gets underway
• Fijians heading to the polls today for third post-coup election
• Other Fiji elections reports
• Wansolwara elections coverage

The People’s Alliance, which is led by former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka, has 115,358 votes (32.7 percent), while the NFP amassed 32,809 ballots (9.3 percent). Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa), which was the major opposition in Parliament after the past two elections, received 16,202 votes (4.6 percent) which would not be enough to enter Parliament.

For other smaller parties, including the Fiji Labour Party, Unity Fiji, We Unite Fiji Party, New Generation Party, All Peoples Party, and two independent candidates, it is looking unlikely they will reach the five percent threshold needed to get into Parliament.

The final results are expected to be released on Sunday.

Glitch in the system
Provisional figures indicate turnout could have been as low as 60 percent and this became a key concern at the close of polls.

The counting process has also become a talking point as it suffered a scare late last night when the elections office found a glitch in the provisional count on the FEO Results App.

“The anomaly caused at least two candidates to receive a high number of disproportionate votes, which forced the FEO to pause the provisional count,” said Fijian Elections Office Supervisor Mohammed Saneem.

“We had to take the app and results platform down because when we published the last results with 507 polling stations we detected an anomaly in which we noted certain candidates had results that were like 28,000 and 14,000 on the app,” Saneem told media.

“To cure this, the FEO had to review the entire mechanism through which we were pushing our results,” he said.

Saneem said the result management system is an offline system and a staging laptop is used to try to transmit the results to the app and the website.

Data mismatch
“We have to see how the results change and we noted that it was in the process where we were transferring the data from the staging laptop to the app. In one instance, the upload had been interrupted midway and this caused the mismatch of the ID of the candidate in the app to the staging laptop,” he said.

This caused the vote numbers for certain candidates to change. They suddenly got a lot of those votes in the app. As a result, the elections body had to discard the data already published, reupload the data on the app, and republish it, as a result.

RNZ Pacific’s regional correspondent Kelvin Anthony asked the elections chief in Suva if the results app could malfunction again as political parties would be raising their concerns about the glitch and seeking answers.

“Don’t worry about the results app. The results management system is the data tool. We’re giving you results from the result’s management system, printouts, and you can go through it yourself,” Saneem said.

Rabuka suggests tally could have been ‘doctored’
PAP leader Sitiveni Rabuka has criticised the provisional vote count. Talking to the media today, he said the tally could have been “doctored” during a glitch which occurred during the 12-hour provisional vote count reporting period.

Rabuka has said he would be writing to Saneem and the Fiji president about his concerns.

The NFP has also raised the following issues and election irregularities with the Fijian Elections Office:

• Elections official influencing voters
• FijiFirst campaign materials being displayed during the blackout period
• Facebook campaigning for FijiFirst
• Protocols at a count centre were unclear
• Confusion over bus companies providing free transport to polling stations
• Transport monitoring officers not being present on buses providing free transport to polling stations.

Saneem has told RNZ Pacific they are looking into the claims.

At 1.45pm local time the official results were starting to show on the results app.

The first results with 28 of 2071 polling stations counted showed PAP leading with 654 votes followed by FijiFirst on 257 and Sodelpa on 104.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

FijiFirst’s Voreqe Bainimarama, the incumbent Prime Minister, looks to have scored a comfortable win in Fiji’s general election.

While the voting system and count has been complicated, and lost much credibility when the system went down, FijiFirst is likely to hold a majority of the Legislative Assembly’s 55 seats.

Sitiveni Rabuka’s People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party will make up the opposition.

• READ MORE:  Fiji elections: Poll data app back online after late night glitch
• Fiji elections: Polls close and early results favour People’s Alliance
• Voters share ‘integrity and truth’ vision of a strong Fijian democracy
• Fijians brave the heat as numbers swell – but elections chief calls for voters
• Voters turn up in numbers as Fiji’s 2022 election gets underway
• Fijians heading to the polls today for third post-coup election
• Other Fiji elections reports
• Wansolwara elections coverage
• RNZ Pacific’s live elections blog

Social Democrats and Fiji Labour Party have failed to make the five percent threshold and will not be in Parliament.

The Suva-based regional news magazine Islands Business reports that the election count was plagued by a long delay and technical breakdown last night, “as former coup leader turned Prime Minister [Voreqe] Bainimarama aimed to extend his 16-year grip on power.”

According to reporter Steven Trask, “his chief political rival Sitiveni Rabuka, a two-time coup leader nicknamed “Rambo”, held an early lead on Wednesday night before results were abruptly taken offline.

“Bainimarama’s governing FijiFirst party was in front when the reporting resumed some four hours later.

“In a hastily-arranged press conference in the early hours of [today], election supervisor Mohammed Saneem said vote counters had detected an ‘anomaly’.”

RNZ Pacific described it as a “glitch” in the system.

Michael Field is an independent journalist and author, and co-manager of The Pacific Newsroom.

People’s Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka says any successor in government in Fiji — even if they are from an opposition party — should be accepted as a normal process in democratic systems.

Speaking to members of the media after casting his ballot at the Lower Ragg Ave polling station in Namadi, Suva, yesterday, Rabuka said he believed the polls would proceed “very well”, yet the ultimate victory belonged to God.

He also spoke about FijiFirst leader Voreqe Bainimarama feeling confident in this year’s polls.

• READ MORE:  Fiji elections: Poll data app back online after late night glitch
• Fiji elections: Polls close and early results favour People’s Alliance
• Voters share ‘integrity and truth’ vision of a strong Fijian democracy
• Fijians brave the heat as numbers swell – but elections chief calls for voters
• Voters turn up in numbers as Fiji’s 2022 election gets underway
• Fijians heading to the polls today for third post-coup election
• Other Fiji elections reports
• Wansolwara elections coverage
• RNZ Pacific’s live elections blog

“I think he’s feeling confident too,” he said, adding opposition parties had to be extremely cautious in the lead-up to the elections.”

When asked whether or not Bainimarama would accept the outcome should he fail to secure a majority win, Rabuka said the incumbent party had avenues such as the Court of Disputed Returns to turn to should the results not be in their favour.

He also said he was hoping for a “flood of votes” to ensure a strong victory.

“I accepted my defeat in 1999, congratulated Mr [Mahendra] Chaudhry outside his house and office and I hope we [Rabuka and Bainimarama] can do that.

‘Normal process’
“We cannot live forever. We cannot rule forever so successions, and even a successor who is from an opposition party, should be accepted as a normal process in democratic systems.”

He was also asked about his message to Fijians of Indian descent.

“I think there’s still fear in them but from 1992 to now, in 30 years it’s been a great era for them.

“They have seen no discriminatory policies introduced by my government. They should be pretty certain that I mean what I said then and what I say now.”

Shayal Devi is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Polls have now closed in the Fiji general election and results are flowing in.

Voreqe Bainimarama of the FijiFirst party, and his main rival, Sitiveni Rabuka of the People’s Alliance, cast their votes at their local polling stations.

Questioned by media, they both said they were confident of victory.

Bainimarama became embroiled in a tense standoff with an Australian journalist.

Bainimarama growls at an Australian reporter.     Video: RNZ Pacific

On being asked if he would respect the outcome of the vote if it did not go in his favour, he responded that he would.

He then asked the reporter where she came from and whether Australia had “more intelligent reporters” to send to Fiji.

Soon after election day, the Multinational Observer Group is set to release an interim statement outlining its initial observations.

• READ MORE:  Voters share ‘integrity and truth’ vision of a strong Fijian democracy
• Fijians brave the heat as numbers swell – but elections chief calls for voters
• Voters turn up in numbers as Fiji’s 2022 election gets underway
• Fijians heading to the polls today for third post-coup election
• Other Fiji elections reports
• Wansolwara elections coverage
• RNZ Pacific’s live elections blog

The group said a final report would be completed as soon as practical after election day, which would include more detailed observations, an assessment of the electoral processes observed, and any recommendations as appropriate.

• As of 9.45pm (Fiji local time), Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party had a strong lead with 4450 votes (46.04 percent) in early provisional party votes. Prime Minister Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Party had 2780 votes (28.76 percent). Professor Biman Prasad’s National Federation Party count was 1032 votes (10.68 percent). However, Bainimarama was ahead in the candidate results, leading by 1228 votes (18.75 percent) ahead of Rabuka who held 1714 votes (17.73 percent).

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

It is an ironic fact in Fiji, a multiethnic Pacific nation of under one million people, that coups don’t work and ultimately lead to constitutional reforms and democratic elections.

As Fiji goes to the polls this Wednesday, the choice is between choosing one former coup leader or another to govern Fiji for the next five years.

Both fought the same battle in 2018, and the incumbent Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama won in an election considered largely free and fair.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji election articles

The two combatants are Prime Minister Bainimarama and his challenger Sitiveni Rabuka, a former prime minister.

Bainimarama staged a coup in 2006 when he was the commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), and after changing the constitution, he was elected as prime minister twice in 2014 and 2018 in national elections.

Rabuka, at the time a lieutenant colonel in the Fiji Military, staged two coups in 1987, claiming to reassert ethnic Fijian supremacy.

Following the adoption of a constitution in 1990 that guaranteed indigenous Fijian domination of the political system, he formed the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) political party of indigenous Fijians and won two elections in 1992 and 1994 to become prime minister.

Rabuka lost power
Rabuka lost power at the 1999 election, and he was succeeded ironically by the Fijian Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry who fought the elections on a nonethnic platform and became Fiji’s first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.

A few months later, in May 2000, he was ousted by businessman George Speight with the help of rogue troops.

Significantly, Speight was not a soldier and was backed by only one faction of the army. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and remains in jail. Both Bainimarama and Rabuka were clever and powerful enough after their coups to ensure that Fiji’s constitution was rewritten to absolve them of any legal wrongdoing.

Fiji is a unique country where a Hindu Indian population known here as “Indo-Fijians” have established themselves as part and parcel of the country.

Their ancestors were brought to the islands as indentured labour by the British to work in the new sugar cane plantations. But now they have established themselves in the business sector and in politics, so much so that the economic czars of both political camps are Indo-Fijians.

The four coups of the 1980s and 1990s led to a massive out-migration of Indo-Fijians and their ratio of the population has now dropped from 50 per cent in 1987 to about 35 per cent. Ethnic tensions have in recent years diluted with the Bainimarama government’s “One Fiji” policy and the recognition of the role Indo-Fijians have played in building modern Fiji.

Though race politics is still in the background, Bainimarama and Rabuka are fighting the forthcoming elections on mainly an economic platform, with the incumbent government arguing that they have protected Fiji better than many other countries of its size from global economic currents of recent years.

Economic ‘volcano’
However, Rabuka’s opposition alliance is arguing that Fiji is in the grip of an economic volcano about to erupt.

The December 14 general election is being contested by 342 candidates from nine political parties. Bainimarama’s ruling FijiFirst Party (FFP) and Rabuka’s Peoples’ Alliance Party (PAP) will each contest 55 seats, while the National Federation Party (NFP) led by former University of the South Pacific’s economics professor Biman Prasad will field 54 candidates.

Rabuka and Prasad have formed a strong political alliance and have been campaigning together for months leading up to this election. If the PAP-NFP alliance wins, Prasad is expected to be Rabuka’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Meanwhile, Bainimarama’s Deputy Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for the Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum — an Indo-Fijian Muslim — has been accused of running the government for Bainimarama and expanding the influence of Indo-Fijian Muslims with money from Arabs at the expense of the Hindu Indo-Fijians.

Rabuka and Prasad have been campaigning across the country, asking the people to vote out the FijiFirst government to rid Fiji of the “damaging legacy of Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum”.

They are offering a “consultative government” and a democracy — as opposed to Sayed-Khaiyum’s “dictatorship”.

The message seems to have hit a chord, even though the Fiji economy has not been doing badly compared to many other countries, and Rabuka is strongly tipped to win a close election.

‘Unstoppable’, claims leader
“We are unstoppable all over the land,” Rabuka said at a recent election rally in Lautoka, an Indo-Fijian stronghold.

“We are ready to make history on December 14,” he added, “tell the people about our plans and keep emphasising that they are the centre of our mission.”

In an interview with Fiji Live, Professor Prasad revealed that if his party forms the next government with the PAP, Sitiveni Rabuka would be the Prime Minister, despite any party having more seats than the other after the election.

He confirmed that the two parties have decided that between the two of them, they will form the government, and that is the bottom line. Prasad is optimistic that they will win substantially more seats in this election and will be in a very strong position when they form the government with their partners, the PAP.

Something that is worrying Fijians is whether an unfavourable result for the government would trigger another coup. Bainimarama’s 2013 constitution has given the Fijian military constitutional rights to be its custodian:

“It shall be the overall role of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and wellbeing of Fiji and all Fijians.”

It goes on to say the armed forces will perform its “Constitutional Role locally and also ready to tackle the modern-day security challenges brought about by Climate Change, Radicalism and Transnational Crime”.

Honouring democracy
In an address on December 5, the RFMF commander, Major-General Jone Kalouniwai, ordered his soldiers to honour the democratic process by respecting the outcome of the votes in the 2022 general election. This comment has been widely welcomed across the political spectrum.

Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the statement by Major-General Kalouniwai is reassuring for the party.

He told Fiji Broadcasting Corporation that FLP was twice robbed of its mandate to govern by coups executed or supported by the military.

People’s Alliance deputy party leader Manoa Kamikamica said: “Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai has voiced what the bulk of Fiji want to hear — which is, we wait for the ballot box to decide.”

Professor Prasad said: “That’s an absolutely fantastic statement from the commander, and I want to thank him because everybody who believes in democracy, who believes in good governance, who believes in a free and fair election, will respect the outcome of the election.”

In a commentary published by the Fiji Times, Professor Wadan Narsey, a senior economist and political analyst in Fiji, expressed some views that reflective many of the voters, which may ultimately tip the scales of who governs after next week.

He argues that under the 2013 Constitution, the government has been able to stifle freedom of expression by the public and the media, with a large section of the taxpayer-funded public media being brought under the control of the government, effectively acting as government propaganda and to attack opposition parties and MPs.

Proper dialogue promised
“There were no such restrictions or control in the Rabuka government era, and these are unlikely to happen in the Rabuka/Prasad era,” argues Professor Narsey.

He points out that “in his recent public statements, Rabuka has promised to govern through discussion, dialogue, proper debate and compromise when necessary”.

He points out that the views of the people are not respected, even though Fiji is functioning under a “democracy”.

The government has arrested those who express views that the government does not like.

Pointing out to the MOU between PAP and NFF, Professor Narsey believes “they would not rule by fear or imposition of two men’s views on the whole country.

“They would focus on providing good health services, education, water and infrastructure like roads and electricity, which have all been failures under the current government, despite massive expenditures using borrowed money”.

“Whether it is a yearning for improvements to infrastructure, construction and allocation of school quarters, assistance to construct a bridge, issues on education, or discussions over manifestos, it is encouraging to note that many Fijians are actually making an effort to be part of the voting process,” The Fiji Times noted in an editorial last week.

“Now, as we look ahead to next Wednesday, there is a sense of ownership in the air. There appears to be a willingness to cast a ballot. There is a willingness to be part of the process,” The Fiji Times added.

Ravindra Singh Prasad is a correspondent of InDepth News (IDN), the flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate. This article is republished with permission.

The People’s Alliance party leader Sitiveni Rabuka claims the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) “has sold its soul” in secretly “working in cahoots” with the FijiFirst party after SODELPA lodged a complaint against the alliance with the Fijian Elections Office yesterday.

Rabuka claimed the complaint against the People’s Alliance on the reinstatement of the Great Council of Chiefs and abolishment of the soli ni yasana proved that SODELPA no longer worked in the best interests of the iTaukei but for the benefit of the FijiFirst party.

In a statement yesterday, he claimed the complaint had shown that “not only is the SODELPA president aligned with FijiFirst and Bainimarama, SODELPA, through their general secretary as the authorised officer of the party, is now working behind the scenes to fix the marriage”.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji elections reports

However, SODELPA general secretary Lenaitasi Duru said the party believed the People’s Alliance had not fulfilled a requirement of the Electoral Act regarding the declaration of funds to finance their manifesto.

“We are just following the law, the Act, the provisions that are there, we have done it so we expect everybody that’s putting out a manifesto to do it,” he said.

At a media conference yesterday, Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem said the complaint was not grounds for deregistering the People’s Alliance.

He said they had asked the PA to provide a response.

“No, the party can’t be deregistered,” Saneem said.

However, he said the PA might be referred to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption for failure to comply with Section 116.

He said the party had until today to respond to the FEO.

• The Fiji general election is on December 14.

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times journalist. Republished with permission.

The “politics of fear” pervading Fiji must go away, says National Federation Party (NFP) candidate Agni Deo Singh.

The former general secretary of the Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) attacked the “politics of fear” aimed at the hearts of voters, especially Fijians of Indian descent.

“Every time we hear about politics of fear from the FijiFirst government,” he claimed.

• READ MORE: The Fiji elections

“They are doing it currently. Trying to instil that fear in the Indo-Fijian community.

“The worst part is that this is bringing about an ethnic divide.

“We are here to bring the two major ethnic groups together.

“We don’t talk ethnicity, we don’t talk race or religion.”

Singh said people should not worry and leave security to the authorities such as the police.

Shayal Devi is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

The Fijian Elections Office has given the green light to 342 candidates from nine political parties and two independents to contest the December 14 general election.

Twelve candidates have been rejected and two have withdrawn.

Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem said his office had received a total of 356 nominations after candidate nominations closed on Monday.

• READ MORE: Fiji PM claims only his party can deliver for the people
• Other Fiji election reports

Saneem said four parties submitted nominations for 55 candidates, which included FijiFirst, SODELPA, the People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party.

The ruling FijiFirst party and the People’s Alliance have all its 55 candidates confirmed to contest the 2022 elections, while the National Federation Party and SODELPA have 54 candidates approved.

The Fiji Labour Party has 42 approved candidates, Unity Fiji has 38, We Unite Fiji has 20, All Peoples Party has 14, and New Generation Party has 5.

“In this election, there are 56 females who have been nominated, and there are 287 males that will be contesting the election. In comparison in 2018, we have 56 females and 179 males,” Saneem said.

“So the male-to-female ratio is 83 percent are males and 16 percent females.”

There will be two independent candidates — both males.

The number of people contesting the polls is higher than in the 2018 election — which had 235 candidates.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

The ruling FijiFirst Party has released its candidate list for the general election on December 14.

With it came some dubious biographies composed by candidates which voters will have to delve into over the coming weeks.

The list gives a basic outline of FijiFirst: 60 percent of its candidates — 31 people — have a university bachelor’s degree.

• READ MORE:  USP forced to cut costs as Fiji still refuses to pay grant for third year
• Other Fiji elections reports

Very few have anything more, and it would be fair to say, FijiFirst is not rich in intellectuals or academics. No prestigious universities for any of them.

What is important is the fact that just over a third of the candidates — 18 people — have degrees from the Suva-based University of the South Pacific.

They owe their careers and jobs to a university that the FijiFirst government is trying to destroy.

Fiji continues to refuse to pay its USP dues of $88 million — and yet its own candidates benefited from the important regional institution.

The 21 FijiFirst candidates with nothing more than a high school education are famously led by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and include his possible successor Inia Seruiratu.

Michael Field is an independent journalist and author and co-editor of The Pacific Newsroom. Republished with permission.

Fijians will go to the polls to choose their next government on December 14.

In a statement yesterday, the Fiji government said Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama visited President Wiliame Katonivere on Sunday morning to advise him on the date of the general election.

Parliament has also been dissolved with immediate effect as the government moves into caretaker mode.

• READ MORE: Fiji announces general election date – December 14
• Other Fiji election reports

Almost 700,000 Fijians are registered to choose their next government in a one-day election set to cost F$26 million.

The Chair of Fiji’s Electoral Commission, Mukesh Nand, said the Fijian Elections Office team of 7541 staff would conduct polling between 7.30am to 6pm on election day, in 855 venues across the country.

There are also 613 early voting venues. More than11,000 people registered for postal votes during the 2018 Fijian elections.

Bainimarama has been in power since a 2006 military coup that led to him becoming acting president and acting prime minister before being sworn in as prime minister following the 2014 election.

He also spent several months in Australia earlier this year recovering from heart surgery.

The ruling FijiFirst Party has announced a further 10 provisional candidates to its line up of aspiring parliamentarians, the most notable of whom is former SODELPA MP Mosese Bulitavu.

Opposition welcomes election
The leader of one of Fiji’s main opposition political parties said the next six weeks would be one of the most critical periods in the country’s history.

National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said that four more years of Voreqe Bainimarama and his Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in power would destroy Fiji’s democracy and reduce the nation to a “two-man dictatorship”.

He said only a fresh start, under a new People’s Alliance and NFP government, could take Fiji away from the politics of fear and division.

Prasad said the people now had the chance to vote in a government that would bring the country together and “lead with vision, humility, and compassion”.

Fiji government agencies have plans to provide free transportation for all voters during election day.

The FBC reports the Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem as saying a public transport booklet would be released detailing what would be operating to help voters on polling day.

He said there would be alternatives in areas that had no bus services.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji MP and the leader of the opposition National Federation Party, Professor Biman Prasad, is accusing Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s ruling FijiFirst Party of suppressing opposition parties with newly amended electoral laws ahead of the country’s general elections this year.

“These are draconian pieces of electoral laws which are designed to keep the opposition parties at bay,” Professor Prasad said.

“They are designed to persecute and gag the opposition parties and prevent them from campaigning. These are absurd and stupid laws governing the electoral process,” he added.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji elections reports

The Electoral Amendment Bill 2022 gives the country’s Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, the right to “direct a person, by notice in writing, to furnish any relevant information or document…notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law on confidentiality, privilege or secrecy”.

It means candidates have no rights of confidentiality if ordered to hand over a document, and the punishments for now complying range from fines of up to $50,000 to a prison term of more than five years.

Saneem has been accused in the past of having a pro-government bias.

“You would never experience such absurd and ridiculous levels of conflict of interest,” Professor Prasad said.

‘We can’t even criticise’
“The laws have been made by this government led by the Attorney-General, who is also the Minister for Elections, and who is also the General Secretary of the FijiFirst Party. We can’t even criticise the Supervisor of Elections, so I must be very careful about what I say with respect to him [Mohammed Saneem].”

Attorney-General Aiyaz Khaiyum-Sayed said the amendments were necessary for the Secretary of Elections to vet candidates.

“Without this specific power, the Secretary of Elections is unable to make enquiries to obtain information necessary for the Secretary of Elections to arrive at decisions as required by the Act. Such powers are also extremely important to allow the Secretary of Elections to conduct enquiries into allegations of breaches of campaign provisions,” Khaiyum-Sayed told Parliament when the Electoral Amendment Bill 2022 was tabled last month.

Professor Prasad alleges that only the FijiFirst party has the freedom to campaign “as they want, when they want, where they want, how they want”.

He said the opposition “have to look behind our backs constantly to make sure we don’t fall behind the wrong side of the law”.

Bainimarama’s main rival and leader of the People’s Alliance Party, Sitiveni Rabuka, shares Professor Prasad’s sentiments.

“It [electoral law amendments] is really just to tie down the hands and feet of the opposition parties,” Rabuka said.

Hampers ‘smooth running of elections’
“It does not facilitate the smooth running of an election and campaigns but only hampers the progress of other political parties,” he said.

Prime Minister Bainimarama has maintained power in the country as a popular leader since he won the democratic elections in 2014.

But opposition leaders say he is losing support due to a totalitarian style of governance that has been in force since Bainimarama first came to power after staging a coup in 2006.

Professor Prasad said foreign nations need to take notice of recent political developments in Fiji.

He said the country was not a “true democracy” because the government has been actively using laws to suppress dissent.

‘Don’t be fooled by propaganda’
“Don’t be fooled by this propaganda by Frank Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum on that international stage that we have a genuine democracy,” he said.

“Fiji is nowhere near a genuine democracy. This is a bunch who came into power through the barrel of a gun in 2006.”

“They made their own constitution, they made their own laws and they want to remain in power at any cost, giving an appearance to the international community that somehow that we are genuine democracy.”

Professor Prasad said the international community — including neighbours Australia and New Zealand — should be “seriously concerned about what’s going on” in the country.

“The international community absolutely cannot ignore these fundamental laws used by the government to gag the opposition from effectively participating in the election.”

RNZ Pacific has tried many times to contact FijiFirst for a response to this story but has yet to receive one.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

In Fiji’s politically charged context, national elections are historically a risky period. Since the 2022 campaign period was declared open on April 26, the intensity has been increasing.

Moreover, with three governments toppled by coups after the 1987, 1999 and 2006 elections, concerns about a smooth transfer of power are part of the national conversation.

The frontrunners in the election, which must be held by January 2023 but is likely to be held later this year, are two former military strongmen — Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

• READ MORE: Social media in Fiji’s national election
• Gender quotas and the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis
• Other Fiji democracy articles

Both men have been involved in Fijian coups in the past.  Rabuka took power through the 1987 coups in the name of Indigenous self-determination. He became the elected prime minister in 1992 but lost power in 1999 after forming a coalition with a largely Indo–Fijian party.

Bainimarama staged his 2006 coup in the name of good governance, multiracialism and eradicating corruption, before restoring electoral democracy and winning elections under the FijiFirst (FF) party banner in 2014 and 2018.

FijiFirst was formed by the leaders and supporters of the 2006 coup during the transition back to democratic government via the 2014 election. Many of the FF leaders were part of the post-coup interim government that created the 2013 constitution, which delivered substantial changes to Fiji’s electoral system.

These changes included the elimination of seats reserved for specific ethnicities, replaced by a single multi-member constituency covering the whole country, and the creation of a single national electoral roll. Seat distribution is proportional, meaning each of the eight competing parties will need to get five percent of the vote to win one of the 55 seats up for grabs this year.

Popularity a key factor
As votes for a particular candidate are distributed to those lower down their parties’ ticket once they cross the five percent threshold, the popularity of single candidates can make or break a party’s electoral hopes.

For example, Bainimarama individually garnered 69 percent of FF’s total votes in 2014 and 73.81 percent in 2018, demonstrating the extent to which his party’s fortunes rest on his personal brand.

This will be crucial as FF’s majority rests on a razor thin margin, having won in 2018 with only 50.02 percent of the vote, compared to its 59.14 percent in 2014.

As for his major rival Rabuka, following his split with the major Indigenous Fijian party, Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), he formed and now heads the People’s Alliance Party (PAP).

The split came after Rabuka lost a leadership tussle with SODELPA stalwart Viliame Gavoka. Rabuka’s departure is seen as a setback for SODELPA, given that he attracted 77,040, or 42.55 percent, of the total SODELPA votes in 2018.

When it comes to issues, the state of the economy, including cost of living and national debt, are expected to be at the top of most voters’ minds. Covid-19 brought a sudden halt to tourism — which before the pandemic made up 39 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) — putting 115,000 people out of work.

As a result, the government borrowed heavily during this period, which according to the Ministry of Economy saw the “debt-to-GDP ratio increase to over 80 percent at the end of March 2022 compared to around 48 per cent pre-pandemic”.

Poverty ‘undercounted’
The government stated that it borrowed to prevent economic collapse, while the opposition accused it of reckless spending. The World Bank put the poverty level at 24.1 percent in April 2022, but opposition politicians have claimed this is an undercount.

For example, the leader of the National Federation Party (NFP) Professor Biman Prasad has claimed the real level of unemployment is more than 50 percent.

Adding to this pressure is inflation, which reached 4.7 percent in April — up from 1.9 percent in February — and while the government blames price increases in wheat, fuel, and other staples on the war in Ukraine, the opposition attributes it to poor economic fundamentals.

Another factor which could define the election outcome was the pre-election announcement of a coalition between the PAP and NFP. By combining the two largest opposition parties, there is clearly a hope to form a viable multiethnic alternative to FF.

This strategy, however, is not without risks in the country’s complex political milieu. In the 1999 election, the coalition between Rabuka’s ruling Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei Party and NFP failed when Rabuka’s 1987 coup history was highlighted during campaigning.

This saw NFP’s Fijian supporters of Indian descent desert the party.

Whether history will repeat itself is one of the intriguing questions in this election. According to some estimates, FF received 71 percent of Indo-Fijian votes in 2014, and capturing this support base is crucial for the opposition’s chances.

Transfer of power concerns
Against the background of pressing economic and social issues loom concerns about a smooth transfer of power. Besides Fiji’s coup culture, such anxieties are fuelled by a constitutional provision seen to give the military carte blanche to intervene in national politics.

Section 131(2) of the 2013 Fijian constitution states: ‘It shall be the overall responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure at all times the security, defence and well-being of Fiji and all Fijians’.

This has concerned many opposition leaders, such as NFP president Pio Tikoduadua, who has called for the country to rethink how this aspect of the constitution should be understood.

These concerns are likely to increase by the prospect of a close or hung election. As demonstrated after last year’s Samoan general election, the risk of a protracted dispute over the results could have adverse implications for a stable outcome.

As such, it is essential that all candidates immediately commit to respect the final result of the election whatever it may be and lay the foundations for a peaceful transition of power. In the longer-term interest, however, it will be necessary for Fiji to clarify the potential domestic power of the military implied by the constitution to put all undue speculation to rest. 

Dr Shailendra Singh is coordinator of the University of the South Pacific journalism programme. This article is based on a paper published by ANU Department of Pacific Affairs (DPA) as part of its “In brief” series. The original paper can be found here. It was first published at Policy Forum, Asia and the Pacific’s platform for public policy analysis and opinion. Republished with the permission of the author.

“Bring it on!” That’s the challenge from National Federation Party (NFP) general-secretary Seni Nabou to FijiFirst party general-secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in the wake of a complaint he made to Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem about a video by a New Zealand-based NFP supporter.

Nabou claimed the video was extracted from a live stream of the party’s last rally in the lead up to the 2018 General Election at Rishikul Primary School and it had been “edited”.

At a press conference on Tuesday evening, Sayed-Khaiyum said he had sent a letter of complaint to Supervisor of Elections (SoE) Mohammed Saneem.

• READ MORE: NFP video used for FijiFirst complaint ‘edited’
• Other Fiji election reports

He said it was in reference to a video circulating on social media where Auckland-based NFP supporter Ahmed Bhamji was seen saying that the “Tertiary Education Loan Scheme (TELS) is a lifetime slavery”.

NFP general-secretary Nabou said the image submitted by Sayed-Khaiyum to the SoE had been “deliberately edited to show only Mr Bhamji because the full image, which we have provided as evidence, proves beyond any doubt when the statement was made”.

“The evidence he has submitted shows it was extracted from a “Vote for Change” Facebook page,” Nabou said.

‘Free from dictatorship’
She said the NFP has never been associated with the “Vote for Change” page and all their official social media pages had been submitted to the SoE.

Nabou said the video was extracted from a live stream of the party’s last rally in the lead up to the 2018 general election at Rishikul Primary School.

“Whatever it is, bring it on. We will not be trampled nor derailed from our vision to once again make Fiji a land of hope and opportunity, free from the dictatorship and thuggery of two-man rule.”

Meri Radinibaravi is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

In a sign of utter desperation as Fiji’s general election election approaches, the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, has targeted his potential rival, Richard Naidu, by obtaining leave in the High Court to bring committal proceedings against the lawyer and prospective NFP candidate for allegedly “scandalising and ridiculing the courts and the judiciary”.

Astonishingly, it relates to a Facebook posting that Richard Naidu made on 2 Feburary 2022 — almost 5 months ago — yet was brought and heard before Justice Jude Nanayakkara just this week — on Monday, June 27.

The court ruling is attached — as well as Richard Naidu’s offending posting — and readers can see for themselves the basis of the AG’s complaint, which we are unable to comment on further for legal reasons.

• READ MORE: Other Grubsheet articles on Fiji’s political and social justice affairs

In a statement, the AG said: “ We all owe a duty to protect our Courts and Judiciary from scandal or ridicule”.

Yet if the courts and the judiciary were, in fact, “scandalised” or “ridiculed” back in February, why has it taken this long for Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum to act?

As he says, “this matter is now before the Courts and the committal proceedings will take their normal course”.

The application for committal has been granted by the judge and the matter will now proceed to hearing. But it is the timing of this action that raises serious questions that are clearly in the public interest.

Election timing?
Because Fijian voters — and especially those looking forward to voting for Richard Naidu — have no way of knowing whether the matter will be heard before the election or not.

Why has it taken five months to bring this action? Precisely how has Richard Naidu scandalised or ridiculed the courts or the judiciary with what, at face value, appears to be a light-hearted comment?

FACT: Although it has not been formally announced, Richard Naidu is standing for the National Federation Party in the coming election.

REASONABLE ASSUMPTION: Given the post-election coalition agreement between the People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party (NFP), it can be assumed that if they are successful in forming government that Richard Naidu would be the logical choice to be attorney-general.

REASONABLE ASSUMPTION: So Richard Naidu is no longer merely the head of the law firm, Munro Leys, or a private citizen active in the community, but is set to go head-to-head with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at the coming election and has designs on his job.

ERGO: Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has every reason to place obstacles in Richard Naidu’s path to try to prevent him from contesting the election.

CONCLUSION: The AG is not only desperate as the election approaches and the government’s fortunes plummet to 21 percent (by the account of his cheerleaders at the Fiji Sun). The prospect of Richard Naidu not only aspiring to replace him as AG but with the very real prospect of being successful in doing so challenges his gargantuan ego and must gnaw at his inner being.

Richard Naidu is everything Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is not. The head of a major law firm, not a corporate lawyer who got lucky riding on the coat-tails of a coup leader.

Richard Naidu is also popular and respected, which Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum might have been once, but no longer.

And if the polls are correct, Richard Naidu will replace Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as AG but Khaiyum will fight like a scalded cat to prevent that from happening.

That’s the context of this court action and you certainly don’t need a great legal brain to work it out.

Australian-Fijian journalist Graham Davis publishes the blog Grubsheet Feejee on Fiji affairs. Republished with permission.

Sitiveni Rabuka is infamous for making Fiji a republic after carrying out a military coup 35 years ago by overthrowing an Indo-Fijian dominated government to help maintain indigenous supremacy.

Rabuka has been a central figure in Fijian politics since 1987 — as the nation’s first coup maker, a former prime minister, most recently the leader of opposition, and now a reformed Christian and politician, and the leader of the People’s Alliance Party.

The former military strongman has positioned himself as the chief rival of the country’s incumbent Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama — a former military commander and coup leader himself — as Fijians prepare to head to the polls at some stage later this year.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES:  Sitiveni Rabuka’s vision on Fiji’s future
• The media and the coup leader: Sitiveni Rabuka – Pacific Journalism Review
• Other Fiji election reports

Rabuka, now 73, is on a campaign trail in Aotearoa New Zealand on a mission — to share with the Fijian diaspora how “politics will affect their relatives” back at home and raise funds for his campaign to topple Bainimarama’s FijiFirst government.

In an exclusive interview with RNZ Pacific’s senior journalist Koroi Hawkins, he spoke about his vision for a better Fiji, raising the living standards of the Fijian people, and why he is the man to return the country back to “the way the world should be.”

“I’m here to talk to the supporters who are here,” Rabuka said.

“We do not have a branch in New Zealand so most of our supporters here have not formed themselves into a branch or into a chapter and I’m just out here to talk to them. They’ve been very supportive on this journey and that’s why I’m here.”

Koroi Hawkins: Why is it important to be talking to people outside of Fiji for the elections?

Rabuka: It is very important to speak to the diaspora. Some of them are now [New Zealand] citizens and may not vote. But they have relatives in Fiji and politics will affect their relatives. It is good for them to know how things are, and how things could turn out if we do not have the change that we advocate.

KH: Is there a fundraising aspect to this overseas election campaigning as well?

Rabuka: That is also the case. Fiji is feeling the impacts of covid-19 and also the rising food prices and the reduction of employment opportunities, hours at work and things like that, has reduced our income earning capacities and so many of us have been relying on government handouts, which is not healthy for a nation. We would like to encourage people to find out their own alternative methods of coping with the crisis that we are now facing, health and economic, and also to communicate those back to those at home.

We are also here to thank the people for the remittances of $1.5 billion [that] came into Fiji over the last two years, and a lot of that came from New Zealand, Australia and America. We were grateful to the three governments of the United States of Australia and New Zealand for hosting the diaspora.

KH: One of your strongest campaign messages has been about poverty with estimates around almost 50 percent of Fijians are now living in hardship. How do you propose to deliver on this promise?

Rabuka: Those are universal metres that I applied and for Fiji it can be effectively much lower if we were to revert to our own traditional and customary ways of living. Unfortunately, many of the formerly rural dwellers have moved to the urban centres where you must be earning to be able to maintain a respectable and acceptable way of life and living standards and so on.

Those surveys and the questions were put out to mostly those in the informal settlement areas where the figures are very high. It is true that according to universal metres and measures, yes, we are going through very difficult times. And the only way to do that is to give them opportunities to earn more. Those that are living in the villages now can earn a lot more. Somebody sent out a message this morning, calculating the income per tonne of cassava and dalo; it is way more than what we get from sugar in the international market.

KH: This pandemic, it’s really exposed how dependent Fiji is on tourism. This really hit Fiji hard. What is your economic vision for Fiji?

Rabuka: We just don’t want to be relying totally on one cow providing the milk. We will need to be looking at other areas. We have to diversify our economy to be able to weather these economic storms when they come because we cannot foresee them. But what we can do is have something that can weather whatever happens. Whether it is straightforward health or effects of wars and crises in other parts of the world. Agriculture and fisheries and forestry, when you talk about these things it also reminds us of our responsibilities towards climate change. We have to have sustainable policies to make sure these areas we want to diversify into do not unfairly hurt the areas that we are trying to save and sustainably used when we consider climate change.

KH: Talking about agriculture, the goal seems to be always import substitution and attempts to do that so far have been mild. Even downstream processing also seems problematic. Are there any specific ways you see food for agriculture other than the things that have been tried not just in Fiji, but around the region that are not really taking a hold in a lot of Pacific countries?

Rabuka: I think it is the choices we have made. There is a big opportunity for us to go into downstream processing of our agricultural produce and use those to substitute for the imports we get. If you look at the impact on the grain market in the world as a result of the Ukrainian war. What else can we have in Fiji now or in other countries that can substitute the grain input into the diet. So those are the things that we need really need to be doing now.

There has been a lot of research done at the Koronivia Research Station and they are laying there in files stored away in the libraries and the archives. We need to go back to those and see what has been done. Very interesting story about the former the late president Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau when he went to Indonesia and he found a very big coconut. He wanted to bring that back to go and plant in Fiji and the people were so embarrassed to tell him that this thing was a result of research carried out in Fiji.

KH: Another big issue is education. We have heard a lot about student loans. You have talked about converting student loans to scholarships and forgiving student debt. Can you maybe speak a little bit more about that that promise? What exactly is that?

Rabuka: We would like to go back to the scholarships concept, enhance the education opportunities for those that are that are capable of furthering the education and also branching out or branching back into what has been dormant for some time now that TVET, technical and vocational education and training. Those are the things that we really need to be doing. Lately, there have been labour movement from Fiji to Australia, New Zealand, for basic agricultural processes of just picking up nuts and fruit and routes.

Those people who are coming out are capable of moving on in education to being engineers and carpenters and block layers and if they had the opportunity to further to go along those streams in in the education system. There is no need for them to be paying. The government really should be taking over those things that we did in the past. We cannot all be lawyers and accountants and auditors and doctors and pilots and so on. But there is so many, the bigger portion of the workforce goes into the practical work that is done daily.

KH: Just going back to the current student debt that is there. Would your policy be to forgive that debt? Or would you still be working out a way to recover it?

Rabuka: That would be part of our manifesto and we are not allowed to announce those areas of our manifesto without giving the financial and budgetary impacts of those.

KH: If you did become prime minister, you would be inheriting a country with the highest debt to GDP ratio that Fiji has ever seen is what the experts are saying. What would be your thoughts coming into that kind of a problematic situation?

Rabuka: We would have to find out how much is owed at the moment and if we were to forgive that, what does forgiving that mean? It means you forego your revenue that you are going to get from these students who are already qualified to do work and for them it means getting reduced salaries when they start working so that they can pay off loans. We have to look at all the combinations and find out which is the most, or the least painful way, of doing it.

It is not their fault. It is what the new government will inherit from the predecessors. Everybody will have to be called upon to tighten their belt, understand the situation, everybody getting a very high per capita burden of the national debt and tell them just how it is. [This is] where we are, this is how we have to get out of it and everybody needs to work together. That is why we need a very popular government. And that is why all the political parties are working very hard to get that support from the people.

KH: Turning to the politics. In 2018, you came within a millimetre of that finish line. Since then, a lot has changed. You ran with the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) at the time. You have now formed your own party, the People’s Alliance. How confident are you about this election race given all those changes?

Rabuka: I think I am confident because there is a universal cry in Fiji for change. The people are looking for their best options on who is to bring the change, what sort of combinations, who are the people behind the brand, people with records in the private sector, also in politics and in the public sector, people who are who are determined to stay on Fiji and do what needs to be done.

There are so many overseas now who love Fiji so much. So many other people who could have been there in Fiji with us running the campaign in order to create a better Fiji, who are overseas. They have not been able to come freely back and with those in mind, we are determined to be the change and bring the change.

KH: One of the things you have talked about is reforming the Fiji Police Force. There has been documented history of problems within the police force. How would you plan to achieve that?

Rabuka: Just bring back the police in Fiji to be the professional body of law enforcement agencies that they had been in the past. We have the capacity, we have the people, we have the natural attributes to be good policemen and women. Get them back to that and avoid the influence of policing in non-democratic societies or the baton charge in every situation, putting it in an extreme term. But that is the sort of thing that we are beginning to see.

We have to reconsider where we send our police officers for training. They must be trained in regimes, in cities, and in countries and governments where we share the same values about law and order, about respecting the rights of citizens, having freedoms. Nobody is punished until they have been through the whole judicial system. You cannot punish somebody when you are arresting them.

KH: There has been a lot of work to try and improve things in policing in the Pacific. But there is a culture that persists, that this history of sort of brutality and “us and them” kind of mentality. How would we get past that in our policing?

Rabuka: We are still coming out of that culture. That was our native culture. We still have to get away from it into modern policing. You look at the way the tribal rules were carried out from that. Somebody’s offended the tribal laws, tribal chiefs, one solution: club them. We have to get away from that. And when we don’t concentrate on moving forward, we very easily fall back.

KH: What [would] a coalition with the National Federation Party look like?

Rabuka: We are going to form a coalition. It will be a two-party government. The Prime Minister is free to pick his ministers from both parties and the best qualified will be picked.

KH: Looking at your own political journey. It started very strongly pro-indigenous Fijian focus. Even with your evolution to your current standing, there are some non-indigenous Fijian voters who are unsure what the future would look like with you as prime minister. What is your message to these people about what Fiji will be like for them and under your prime ministership?

Rabuka: Well, it is like you see the cover of the book and now you are reading the book. I have a dream of what the Pope [John Paul II] saw when he came to Fiji; the way the world should be, a multiracial, vibrant society, where everybody is welcome, where everybody is contributing, everybody is going by their own thing and even unknowingly contributing to a very vibrant economy that will grow and grow and grow so that we are equal partners in the region with Australia, New Zealand, and a very significant part of the global economy.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Former FijiFirst party member and parliamentarian Alifereti Nabulivou claims many Fijians across the country have only one thing in mind: “They no longer want the FijiFirst party in power.”

A staunch supporter of the Unity Fiji party since 2018, Nabulivou highlighted this during a recent campaign meeting in Mokani, Bau, Tailevu.

He said the people expressed their views about the current administration and “they are tired”.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji elections reports

“Even those that voted for the FijiFirst party in the last elections don’t want them in government anymore,” Nabulivou claimed.

“In Naitasiri, the majority of villages want a change in government and this is the feedback we get from people during our visits.

“People base their views on what they are experiencing every day and the changes brought about by this government.”

He told people that any change in government would depend on how they would vote in the 2022 General Election.

He said he was part of the government and knew how they did things in Parliament, including the changes made to the Parliamentary Standing Orders.

“We were even dictated as to what to say in Parliament.”

Fiji is due to hold a general election by November.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

People’s Alliance party leader Sitiveni Rabuka says the FijiFirst government is not fit to run the country because it cannot efficiently provide two basic necessities — electricity and water.

In a statement issued yesterday, he said the continuing crises of dry taps and regular power cuts was “good reason for voting the FijiFirst government out of office”.

“The inability of the Minister of the Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama to keep the lights on and the water flowing through the taps is an indictment of their leadership,” Rabuka said.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji elections reports

“In addition to their other failures, they clearly cannot efficiently provide these two basic necessities for living. They are therefore not fit to remain in office.”

The former prime minister also claimed electricity supply disruptions, leaking mains, dirty water and empty taps were part of the daily routine for hundreds of thousands of citizens.

“Disruptions occur in many areas causing turmoil and stress in homes, workplaces and public facilities such as hospitals,” he said.

“On more than one occasion in recent times, all of Viti Levu has lost its electricity — some places have suffered up to four power cuts in one day.

“The CWM Hospital, the country’s largest, has previously been left without water. You can imagine what a nightmare that was for hundreds of patients, visitors and staff.

“There has never been an apology from Mr Bainimarama or Mr Sayed-Khaiyum for not getting their water and power act together.”

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Opposition National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad has questioned the motive of the FijiFirst government to continuously highlight the 1987 coup during the girmit celebrations while refusing to mention the devastation brought about by the 2000 and 2006 coups on Fijians.

He highlighted this issue during a rally in Tadevo, Navua, on Saturday.

“They are talking about 1987 coup which happened 35 years ago, but they never mention anything about the 2000 and 2006 coup,” Professor Prasad said.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji elections reports

“They are talking about the 1987 coup because they want to stoke fear in the minds of people, especially on the Fijians of Indian descent voters.

Professor Prasad said the government should also apologise to the family of the late Professor Brij Lal for banning him from the country of his birth and who died at his home in Brisbane, Australia, last year.

“Every government minister and every government member in the FijiFirst party, if they have any shame left in every girmit function that they organise, they should apologise to the family of late Professor Lal and to all the descendants of the girmitya in this country on how they brutally banned him from Fiji.”

He said it was hypocritical for the Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Premila Kumar and other senior government officials to be parading and giving speeches about the struggles of Fijians of India descent, yet forget the extremely shameful act of banning the historian who had written everything on girmit about Fijians of Indian descent.

“It’s obvious they are using the situation to campaign for the next general elections by highlighting what happened in 1987 and forgetting what happened in 2000 how people were terrorised, forgetting who was a RFMF commander at that time, forgetting the 2006 coup, how many people including women were brutally treated by those were in power at that time,” he said.

Professor Prasad said the girmitya would be “turning in their graves looking at how the shameless government used this occasion for a political gimmick”.

Questions sent to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama remained unanswered when this edition went to press.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Campaigning is underway for the general election in Fiji later this year and early predictions are pointing to a shift in allegiances.

No date has been set yet for the general election in Fiji.

The ruling FijiFirst Party led by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama scraped through at the last election four years ago with the slimmest of margins.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES: Dr Ratuva talks to Koroi Hawkins about the Fiji election
• Other reports on Fiji elections

Professor Steven Ratuva, director of the Macmillan Brown Centre of Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury, said FijiFirst’s popularity was polling more than 60 percent in the 2014 election.

He said in 2018 that they were closer to 50 percent, and now the polls are indicating popularity levels as low as 22 percent.

“So that alone, if you do another poll and another one, if it talks about the same thing and even if you have a margin of error of about 10 or 20, that means it’s going to be a major shift in the political gravity, and there might be a change of government.

No consistent polling
Unfortunately, we don’t have consistent polling in Fiji, this is when they should be doing it, the major papers like The Fiji Times, the Fiji Sun,” he said.

“It’s important for the people of Fiji at this particular point in the election to be engaged in the democratic process of providing their views as to who should be there, before the actual election itself.

“And it’s good for political parties as well, whether you are in power or whether you are in opposition,” Professor Ratuva said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.