Young voters again have the opportunity to determine the result of Fiji’s election and the direction of the country in December, but many feel that political parties and candidates have failed to address the issues that really matter to them.
“If they want to reach out to the youth, I feel like they should have someone good in our age group, between 18 to 25, to talk to us,” says first-time voter, Mohammed.
It’s a common refrain, young people don’t see themselves reflected in the candidate line-ups or public face of parties, despite the presence of youth wings in a number of the larger and longer-established political parties.
50.57% of Fiji’s registered voters are 40 years of age or younger according to the Fiji Elections Office. 27.69% of these are aged between 18-30. By sheer volume of numbers, they will decide the results, if they are inspired to lodge their ballots on December 14.
Interviews, physical forums and rallies, and social media indicate these voters are concerned about jobs, the cost of living, housing, and the environment, amongst other issues.
The Fiji National University (FNU) has been running a youth voter and elections education program for several months, incorporating workshops on understanding the electoral system, essay, drama and debate competitions, and a public discussion on the 2022 polls.
FNU Assistant Professor, Mosmi Bhim says the program was designed to improve understanding of the voting and election process, and of Fiji’s history of electoral systems.
“My impression was that the majority of them did not know what a single national constituency was,” she notes of the participants. “They did not know that Fiji had one house, [that] our parliamentary system was a unicameral system.”
She further notes that the young people they engaged with often didn’t appreciate their power as voters.
“I think people don’t really realise that in a democracy, the citizen is the main actor. It’s not the leader, it’s supposed to be citizen driven.”
Speaking at the launch of the FNU program, Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem questioned the genuine commitment to involving youth in politics, saying too often they were asked to serve food or move chairs, but were not often found on speaking panels.
“The disenfranchising of young voters is not because they are turned off, but because you are turning them off,” he asserted.
Bhim notes that other factors have also contributed to this divide, saying democracy “is supposed to be a continuous activity of informing your leaders what you want, holding them accountable, negotiating with them, liaising with them, communicating with them. And these are all part of how citizens actively take part in the decision-making process of their country. But I think because of the kind of situation that we’ve had in the country, campaigning, lobbying, etc is somehow not regarded as part of activities citizens can legitimately engage in.”
She says the political environment has not been enabling in other ways.
“In Fiji, we have not had protests, and we don’t have town council elections. And what is happening is that people are not getting a chance to take part in electoral activities at a minor scale. I think it’s very important that people are allowed to take part in election activities at a lower level.”
However Bhim believes being able to participate in smaller elections would give more young people the chance to get involved in the political process, and gain experience before participating as candidates and officials at the national level.
In 2009, the military government abolished town and city councils and appointed special administrators at the municipal level. There have been no local government elections since then.
In his recent book Youth in Fiji and Solomon Islands: Livelihoods, leadership and civic engagement, Australian-based academic Aidan Craney interviewed youth activists and advocates. He notes three main challenges, “disconnection between the aims and outputs of formal education, dissuasion from engagement in critical thinking and civic engagement, and a general inertia to addressing youth issues through policy and programming based on evidence.”
Craney acknowledges that there are many examples of young people showing leadership on issues of social concern, such as emerging as leaders of the climate justice movement.
He notes the cultural and traditional lens with which youth are considered in the Pacific, and writes that urbanisation is changing this:
“Youth passivity in Oceania was not necessarily problematic prior to the establishment of urban hubs. Young people could learn by observation and progressively be included in adult discussions and decision-making as their communities deemed appropriate. A challenge for Pacific states is that rural-urban migration is disrupting these established means of young people developing their civic selves. Recent decades have seen significant rural-urban migration across Oceania and all indicators suggest urban populations will continue to outgrow rural populations. If children from villages move to urban areas without being exposed to community decision-making processes, how well prepared will they be to take the mantle of elders of their communities whether they remain in cities or return to their village? Similarly, if urban children grow without the social support of the village, how well prepared will they be to lead their communities and cultures as they age?”
Fijian academic and Director of theMacmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury, Professor Steven Ratuva, shares some of these observations, particularly in relation to education. Speaking at a recent panel discussion, he stated that Fiji’s education system is not fit for purpose, noting: “What we’ve seen is that very highly specialised kind of education that we cherish in Fiji over the years tends to create a disadvantaged position for our graduates in terms of adapting to the fast-changing world, to the complex, economic, political, cultural, and technological changes which are taking place. Some of the countries in the world which have some of the best education systems like Finland, for instance, have a very student-centered, youth-centered education [system with] minimal control from above, which is the opposite of what we have in our country where there is micro-control at different levels. And the idea is to provide space, open space within the education system to develop the resilience of the youth for tomorrow.”
He notes Fiji’s coup culture has also had an impact on young people.
“Fiji has had coups since 1987. Those born in 1987 are now 35 years old. Those born in 2000 are now 22 years old. Those born in 2006 are now 16 years old…so if you like, three generations of coup youths.”
Professor Ratuva says studies have shown that the impact of extreme political (and environmental) events can be intergenerational, but notes that when the political environment has become toxic, people find other ways of expressing themselves, such as through social media.
He sees social media as broadening the scope for independent political ideological alignment beyond the family and kinship (and religious, ethnic and cultural) loyalties of the past.
“A lot of youths of today, they read a lot and they’ve been engaged in surfing the net and understanding what’s happening around the world, so they’re much more politically conscious [of] the Black Lives Matter movement, the various youth movements around the world and climate movement.”
Professor Ratuva identifies “unachieved expectations” as the real challenge facing young people today.
“You’ve promised them jobs, for instance, after they do finish a particular degree or whatever, and it doesn’t come about, and that will create a sense of resistance.”
Professor Ratuva notes that for some young people, there is a degree of cynicism about democracy itself, and “whether it is real or not”, promoting young voters to “vote with their feet” and not turn up on polling day.
“Democracy has to do with creating space for genuine engagement, for freedom of expression and for providing those voices which will be transformative, rather than using those voices as a basis to suppress,” he concludes.
