Political Parties in the Pacific Islands

Political Parties in the Pacific Islands Political Parties in the Pacific Islands EDITED BY ROLAND RICH with Luke Hambly and Michael G. Morgan Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au Previously published by Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies _______________________________________________________________________ Title: Political parties in the Pacific Islands [electronic resource] / editors, Roland Rich, Luke Hambly, Michael G. Morgan. ISBN: 9781921313769 (pdf) 9781921313752 (pbk) Notes: Includes index. Bibliography. Subjects: Political parties--Pacific Area. Pacific Area--Politics and government. Other Authors/Contributors: Rich, Roland. Hambly, Luke. Morgan, Michael G. Dewey Number: 324.291823 _______________________________________________________________________ All rights reserved. No part of htis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, wihtout the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by Emily Brissenden, Photography by Bob Cooper Printed by University Printing Services, ANU First edition © Roland Rich, Luke Hambly and Michael G. Morgan 2006 This edition © 2008 CONTENTS Figures ix Tables ix List of Contributors x Preface and Acknowledgments xii Chapter 1: Introduction: Analysing and Categorising Political Parties in the Pacific Islands 1 Roland Rich Chapter 2: Primordial Politics? Political Parties and Tradition in Melanesia 27 Steven Ratuva Chapter 3: Political Consequences of Pacific Island Electoral Laws 43 Jon Fraenkel Chapter 4: Anatomy of Political Parties in Timor-Leste 69 Joao M. Saldanha Chapter 5: Political Parties in Papua New Guinea 83 R. J. May Chapter 6: Parties, Constitutional Engineering and Governance in the Solomon Islands 103 Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka viii Chapter 7: The Origins and Effects of Party Fragmentation in Vanuatu 117 Michael G. Morgan Chapter 8: 143 Parties and the New Political Logic in New Caledonia Alaine Chanter Chapter 9: Fiji: Party Politics in the Post-Independence Period 165 Alumita Durutalo Chapter 10: The Establishment and Operation of Sämoa’s Political Party System 185 Asofou So’o Glossary 207 Biographies 212 Index 214 ix Figures 1.1 Global/Regional Map 3 1.2 Political Parties: extent of organisation 7 7.1 Vanuatu: SNTV multi-member constituencies 119 9.1 Fijian Islands 166 Tables 2.1 Number of Pacific Island Political Parties and Their Political 30 Principles as at October 2004. 3.1 Electoral Systems, Effective Number of Political Parties and Extent of 47 Party Preponderance in Pacific Island Legislative Assemblies. 4.1 Political Parties in Timor-Leste, June 2004. 72 4.2 Political Parties in Timor-Leste, May 2001. 73 4.3 Timor-Leste: Parties in the National Parliament. 76 7.1 First Parliament of Vanuatu, 1979–83. 127 7.2 Second Parliament of Vanuatu, 1983–87. 127 7.3 Third Parliament of Vanuatu, 1987–91. 128 7.4 Fourth Parliament of Vanuatu, 1991–95. 128 7.5 Fifth Parliament of Vanuatu, 1995–98. 128 7.6 Sixth Parliament of Vanuatu, 1998–02. 128 7.7 Seventh Parliament of Vanuatu, 2002–06. 130 7.8 Eighth Parliament of Vanuatu, 2004–. 130 9.1 Results of the 1972 General Elections. 171 9.2 Votes Polled by Fijian Political Parties in the 1994 General Elections. 175 9.3 Votes Polled by Fijian Political parties in the 1999 General Elections. 176 9.4 Percentage of Votes Polled by Fijian Political Parties in the 178 2001 General Elections. x LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Alaine Chanter Division of Communication and Education University of Canberra Alumita Durutalo Pacific and Asian History Division Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University Jon Fraenkel Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Development and Governance University of the South Pacific Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka Pacific Islands Development Program East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawai’i R. J. May State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Project Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University Michael G. Morgan Centre for Democratic Institutions Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University Steven Ratuva Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Development and Governance University of the South Pacific xi Roland Rich Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow International Forum for Democratic Studies National Endowment for Democracy, Washington, DC formerly: Foundation Director Centre for Democratic Institutions The Australian National University Joao M. Saldanha Timor Institute of Development Studies Asofou So’o National University of Sämoa xii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ON MARCH 8, 2004, the Consultative Council that advises the Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI) on the direction of its work met in Parliament House, Canberra. There were some new faces around the table recently appointed by Cabinet. Among them were four senior officials from Australia’s major political parties: Brian Loughnane, Federal Director of the Liberal Party of Australia; Andrew Hall, Federal Director of the National Party of Australia; Geoff Walsh, Federal Director of the Australian Labor Party; and Gary Gray, his predecessor. They made their view clear — CDI needed to focus on strength- ening political parties in our region of the world. The Australian parliamentarians on the council, the Hon. Chris Gallus, chair of the council, Dr Andrew Southcott and Kevin Rudd, agreed, as did Sir Ninian Stephen, former Governor-General of Australia, Andy Becker, the Australian Electoral Commissioner, and Professor Ian McAllister of The Australian National University (ANU). A consensus had formed and the ball was now in my court. CDI is Australia’s democracy promotion institute funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). As part of the Research School of Social Sciences of the ANU, CDI assists the countries in Australia’s immediate region to strengthen their key democratic bodies. In its first six years, CDI focused mainly on parliaments and judiciaries. Now a difficult new subject had been placed on our agenda. It seemed to me the first step we needed to take was to gain a better understanding of political parties in the Pacific Islands. One of the great advantages of being located in the Coombs Building at the ANU is that CDI sits at the crossroads of the leading researchers in the fields of Asia-Pacific studies and political science. So the task boiled down to identifying the leading thinkers in the field, getting them excited about participation in a new research venture, commis- sioning their chapters and finally putting the book together. Sounds simple … xiii My first vote of gratitude must go to the authors: Alaine Chanter of the University of Canberra, Asofou So’o of the National University of Samoa, Jon Fraenkel and Steven Ratuva of the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Tarcisius Kabutaulaka of the East- West Center in Hawai’i, Joao Saldanha of the Timor-Leste Study Group in Dili, and Alumita Durutalo, Ron May and Michael Morgan of the ANU. They stuck to their task diligently, kept to their word limits graciously and eventually met their deadlines grudg- ingly. I hope they will forgive any intrusiveness on my part. Several other people played key roles in seeing this publication come to light. Francesca Beddie was of enormous assistance in the editing process. She passed the baton to my colleagues at CDI, Luke Hambly and Michael Morgan, who then ran it to the finish line. As always, our other colleague at CDI, Sally Thompson, provided essential support. All books must leave their authors’ hands and begin a peripatetic new life. But this book will nevertheless remain close to CDI as it will now inform the work we do to strengthen the political parties we have researched and help them play the critical role required of them in the operation of their nations’ democracies. Roland Rich Canberra March 2005 xiv Political Parties in the Pacific 1 ANALYSING AND CATEGORISING POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE PACIFIC1 ISLANDS Roland Rich ACCORDING TO DIAMOND, ‘political parties remain an indispensable institutional framework for representation and governance in a democracy.’1 If so, many Pacific Island nations labour under a political disadvantage in the construction of their democracies because local political parties are generally weak and ineffective.2 They tend to have little by way of policy platforms and therefore do not discharge the roles of aggregating interests, deliberating on policy or mediating between the policy interests of various social groups. Most political parties in the South-West Pacific lack systematic grassroots organisation and so cannot be expected to be active in civic education or consensus-building. In Melanesia, most political parties are organised around one or more powerful political leaders, with the consequence that personality tends to override policy importance in the decisions of parties. Even the task of getting the vote out on election day is usually delegated to the candidate who must draw on extended kinship or patronage networks for scrutineers, drivers and general cajolers, not to mention ballot-stuffers, intimidators and enforcers. Political parties are therefore a particularly tenuous link in the chain holding together democratic governance in this region. Comparisons, classifications and coherence Given that the bulk of our analysis in this collection

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