Page 10 - IB December 2022

Fiji Fiji

FIJI VOTES FOR CHANGE

RABUKA RETURNS AS PM

By Samantha Magick and Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti Coalition by the slimmest of margins
Ahead of the elections, the entry of several new political
On Christmas Eve, Fijians at home and abroad paused in parties suggested there would be increased fragmentation
their Christmas preparations to watch the country’s newly- of the vote as people were presented with more options,
minted parliamentarians vote for their new Prime Minister. and the likelihood that a coalition would be necessary to
It followed days of delicate negotiations between rival form government. Incumbent Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst
coalitions and courting of the Social Democratic Liberal Party party gained the most votes of any single party in parliament
(SODELPA), which won three seats in Fiji’s 55-member house, (42.55%), however the majority of the electorate voted for
giving them the balance of power. change. Unity Fiji’s Narube and the FLP’s Chaudhry, failed
In the end, former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka prevailed, to secure a seat in parliament, despite pulling the sixth and
with a single vote majority and the backing of his People’s seventh highest number of individual votes, as their parties
Alliance Party (PAP), the National Federation Party (NFP) failed to reach the 5% threshold required to enter parliament.
and SODELPA. It’s a fragile coalition, and keeping its various It meant those votes, and those for other minor parties, did
members united and focused on the new government’s not count towards the final makeup of government.
ambitious work program will be a challenge. That left FijiFirst and the PAP/NFP coalition deadlocked on
26 seats each at the end of counting. SODELPA, with its three
A glitch in the system deciding seats, invited the parties to present their coalition
The scheduling of Fiji’s general election for December proposals to its leadership. On December 20, after a long day
14th raised concern that voter turnout would be adversely of negotiations, SODELPA announced it was joining in coalition
affected. And indeed, up until the last hours of voting day, it with PAP and the NFP. There were wild scenes of celebration
appeared that the turn out would be very poor. But after a in central Suva, centered around the PAP headquarters.
last-minute appeal to voters to head to polling stations, the However those festivities were short lived, when it became
Supervisor of Elections said 68.3% of registered voters cast evident that there was a dispute over the composition of
their ballots, which was higher than the 2018 polls. SODELPA’s management board, and that vote was voided.
While the Multinational Observer Group (MOG) said it saw Several days later on December 23, SODELPA met both sides
no irregularities in the polls (see page 14), a ‘glitch’ in the once more, heard their submissions and voted a second time.
voting results app during the counting of provisional results, Once again, they opted to go with the PAP/NFP coalition, by a
created distrust in a process that some commentators and margin of 13 votes to 12.
political parties were already deeply sceptical of. In a series The President of SODELPA’s youth wing, Ben Daveta said,
of media conferences between unlikely allies; the PAP and “We have to choose between perhaps two devils in the
NFP coalition, Fiji Labour Party’s Mahendra Chaudhry and People’s Alliance and FijiFirst. Of course we know FijiFirst
Unity Fiji’s Savenaca Narube, called for a halt to counting consists of a group of people that was formed after the
until an “urgent forensic audit of the electoral system” was military government overthrew our founding leader, the late
undertaken. They also questioned treatment of their agents in Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, and the other which consists
the counting centre and raised a number of other concerns. of a group of people which literally brought in a lot of damage
Separately, PAP leader Sitiveni Rabuka called for military to the party to the extent that some of them wanted to
intervention “under their responsibilities from Section 131. 2. destroy SODELPA. So we are stuck with these two, but as we
of the 2013 Constitution” which states “It shall be the overall see, looking at the numbers and the polls, people wanted
responsibility of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces to ensure change.”
at all times the security, defence and well-being of Fiji and The President summoned parliament and on Christmas Eve,
all Fijians”. RFMF Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai all 55 members were sworn in, and the Speaker and Deputy
declined to act upon this call for action. Speaker, Prime Minister and Opposition leader elected.
As the final count progressed and it was clear no one party Despite the coalition to form government, one of its members
would gain enough votes to form a government alone, these voted with FijiFirst. The ballot was conducted in secret, and
concerns became less acute, as parties’ attention switched to the papers shredded on the floor of the house immediately
coalition building. after the vote, so the identity of that dissenter is unproven.

10 Islands Business, December 2022