Fiji in ferment

Fiji’s former military ruler, Voreqe Bainimarama, was sworn in on Monday as the elected Prime Minister of the South Pacific island nation, eight years after overthrowing the previous government.

Bainimarama and his Fiji First Party won 32 of 50 seats in parliament while the opposition Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) won 15 seats and the National Federation Party won three.

The voter turnout was 84 per cent; and of the almost 500,000 ballots cast, Bainimarama alone won just over 200,000 votes in the single constituency ballot.

General enthusiasm The leaders of Sodelpa, National Federation Party, and three others complained of poll malpractices, but the international observers of the Multilateral Observer Group, co-led by Australia, India and Indonesia declared that the election was credible. Bainimarama’s overwhelming majority would have been aided by the absence of two former prime ministers — Laisenia Qarase and Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji’s first prime minister of Indian origin who was ousted in the 2000 coup — from the election.

Qarase was disqualified for misuse of office; Chaudhry on conviction for foreign currency violations, which he has appealed in a higher court.

Some politicians had complained of rules being changed just before the elections and also that the voting method favoured well-known political figures.

But the high voter turnout and Bainimarama’s high vote share shows the general enthusiasm about the elections in the country.

Fiji Islands has a history of armed coups; in 2006 Fiji’s third elected government was thrown out by Rear Admiral (rtd) Bainimarama in a bloodless coup. Two earlier governments had been deposed amidst intense rivalry between the two main ethnic communities; the indigenous Fijians were opposed to the economically dominant Indian community acquiring political power.

The Indians, who are fourth or fifth generation descendants of migrants brought to work on sugarcane plantations, were physically targeted during the two coups.

Sweeping changes Bainimarama’s coup, however, was not based on race but due to differences with the ruling prime minister, Laisenia Qarase.

In the past eight years of an authoritarian military rule that curtailed civil liberties and imposed severe press regulations, Bainimarama brought many sweeping changes. He abolished the powerful council of chiefs of the ethnic Fijians and their special privileges, and the race-based electoral system. The new constitution ensured a common identity for all Fiji citizens as ‘Fijians’, a term applicable only to ethnic Fijians.

Fiji faced economic sanctions imposed by Australia, New Zealand and the US. Keen to acquire international recognition, on the top of Bainimarama’s agenda is a trip to New York to address the UN General Assembly as the Prime Minister of Fiji.

After claiming victory in the elections, Bainimarama appealed to all Fijians: “I am the Prime Minister of all Fijians, for all Fijians. I passionately believe in one nation, one Fiji and that everyone has a place in it.” The days of pandering to special interest groups, elites and certain areas of the country were over, he added.

Bainimarama gave up his uniform to don politicians garb before elections, but he may need to shed his authoritarian ways.

The writer is a senior journalist

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