DOCSLIB.ORG

WILLIAMS COLLEGE LIBRARIES Your Unpublished Thesis, Submitted

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

WILLIAMS COLLEGE LIBRARIES Your unpublished thesis, submitted for a degree at Williams College and administered by the Williams College Libraries, will be made available for research use. You may, through this form, provide instructions regarding copyright, access, dissemination and reproduction of your thesis. _ The faculty advisor to the student writing the thesis wishes to claim joint authorship in this work. In each section, please check the ONE statement that reflects your wishes. 1. PUBLICATION AND QUOTATION: LITERARY PROPERTY RIGHTS A student author automatically owns the copyright to his/her work, whether or not a copyright symbol and date are placed on the piece. The duration of U.S. copyright on a manuscript--and Williams theses are considered manuscripts--is the life of the author plus 70 years. _ I/we do not choose to retain literary property rights to the thesis, and I wish to assign them immediately to Williams College. ;,de('tlni~ this wili tn the lln~ III 1,0 '.\.n \tudem lunhor from later pUf!lishirig his/her \vorl-;: the studem would, however. need to contact the Archi ves for a form. 'rhe Archi ves wOllk! be li\~e ill this lU abo grant pel'nll\S!On small sections fruln the thesis. would thcr(~ be Hny iTl.hon for tlk /\rchives to gnm1 pe!.·IHI:SS!O!l to another party IU tlh~ thesis in its if sueh a situation amse. the Archive,; would in touch \\ith the mnhor to let them know that such request had heeu madt\ L~we wish to retain literary property rights to the thesis for a period of three years, at which time the literary property rights shall be assigned to Williams College. the mlt]ior a fe'.v ye:lrs to make exclusive use of the thesis in un"CUlTIH!l: _ I/we wish to retain literary property rights to the thesis for a period of __ years, or until my death, whichever is the later, at which time the literary property rights shall be assigned to Williams College. cdectmg chi;; uLuv~,;s the m,H:hnr great In tV thc !:i rne Some students are inten>,ted in thcir thcsis in grlH.luate ;,elmol worl" this it would niilke for then! II) :1 number such . il) in the bhmk, and line out the 'eVonls until Iny delnh. whidie'.'{.T is the later.' In event. It is for dw h.> ddruinist,;r on il if the ,;nc!s with the individual's c!Gm!J·{)ur wun't have t\) scarch fur eSl:lk ,;xeeUlOrs in this C;N'···IYi[ tbis is up to each stuc!ent- II. ACCESS The Williams College Libraries are investigating the posting of theses online, as well as their retention in hardcopy. ·J'williams College is granted permission to maintain and provide access to my thesis in hardcopy and via the Web both on and off campus. Sdcctmg tbis (,-Ilows I\;seardk;rs amund the wOrlcilO ;Iecess !lk; vasion of your \\/ork. _ Williams College is granted permission to maintain and provide access to my thesis in hardcopy and via the Web for on-campus use only. allows the version of your work from 11k Oll·campus _ The thesis is to be maintained and made available in hardcopy form only. ;,electmg this aEows <ICCU,S 10 your ',york frOTH the you submit. Such of your vV\)rL any media that il or includes. III. COPYING AND DISSEMINATION Because theses are listed on FRANCIS, the Libraries receive numerous requests every year for copies of works. If/when a hardcopy thesis is duplicated for a researcher, a copy of the release form always accompanies the copy. Any digital version of your thesis will include the release form. {!,/ ~ Copies of the thesis may be provided to any researcher. Scle,:,n);: ,his ,diows Imy researcher to request u fmlll the Wiliianh e-;ecturnic \!<~r~~1{WL _ Copying of the thesis is restricted for _ years, at which time copies may be provided to any researcher. 'rhis Ibis electronic version of Ihe thesis will be "'1'0.,,"'11""; _ Copying of the thesis or portions thereof, except as needed to maintain an adequate number of research copies available in the Williams College Libraries, is expressly prohibited. The electronic version of the thesis will be protected against duplication. allows no 10 he mnde i\,r researdkT\. 'rhe eleelTonlc v,crsiun does not dis··aHo\') n:st:archers frmn Signed (student author) Signat:ure RerTloved Signed (faculty advisor) Signat:ure RerTloved A.·\~~: ~ -~_ L"V"'~,/ I~"" ~\.~~~.. /",~) -~, 's tl'tle \J ( ,-«...."-_ :. ....' C;)tAl'l/\..{) (.4/- =-.... :,..,-,\ '" - \ "'". ." __""_.- Thesl -------'----'-----,7-)--------=-"---=----1)--'--'-----'---+.,;--''''''- Date __-+-__-;-1_/L_·.·~_/_:71,-1 _ l Accepted for the Libraries Signat:ure RerTloved A Foreign Flower: Democracy in Fiji from 1970 to 2008 by Katie Grace Professor Sam Crane, Advisor A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Science WILLIAMS COLLEGE Williamstown, Massachusetts 2008-2009 1 A child may ask, "What is the world's story about?" And a grown man or woman may wonder, "What way will the world go? How does it end and, while we're at it, what's the story about?" East ofEden, John Steinbeck To Dad, for education 2 Table of Contents Introduction 4 Chapter One: Divided Society 13 Chapter Two: Coup d'etats 28 Chapter Three: Institutional Instability 47 Chapter Four: Looking Forward 68 Addendum 85 Appendixes Appendix A: 1999 and 2006 Election Results by Seat 86 Appendix B: Constitutional Distribution of Seats by ethnicity, House of Representatives..118 Appendix C: Constitutional Distribution of Seats by appointment nomination, Senate 118 Appendix D: Percentage ofVotes Won/Percentage of Seats Won, 2006 119 Appendix E: Percentage ofVotes Won/Percentage ofSeats Won, 2001 119 Appendix F: Percentage ofVotes Won/Percentage of Seats Won, 1999 119 Appendix G: Registered Voters-Ethnic Breakdown by Constituency 2006, Open Seats 120 Appendix H: Registered Voters-Ethnic Breakdown by Constituency 1999, Open Seats 121 Appendix I: Map of Fiji with Provincial Boundaries 122 Appendix I: Annual GDP Growth Per Capita, 1968-2007 123 AppendixJ: Distribution of Households by Income per Adult Equivalent 124 Bibliography 125 3 Introduction Since the end of the Second World War, the promotion of democracy as the world's preferred mode of national governance has increased in tandem with a rise in international organizations. The promises of liberal democracy, epitomized by the successes of advanced capitalist countries like the United States, Australia, and Great Britain, have provided the foundation for an international push towards democratization in latter half of the 20th century. This effort has met with mixed results; some nations have successfully transitioned to stable democracy while others have been stymied by oppressive authoritarian regimes and instability. Fiji belongs to this latter group of nations. The troubled road that the island nation has traveled since independence provides insight into the difficulties that other nations, particularly those with divided societies, have had in adopting democracy. Aspects of Fiji's history and culture specific to that country have prevented a successful transition to democracy, suggesting that democratization must take into effect counu;-specific factors for a stable transition. Fiji's experience also provokes questions about the prudence and efficacy of overt democracy promotion as a blanket policy for the Western world and international community. Parliamental; democracy has been Fiji's governing structure since independence from Britain in 1970. Plagued by poor governance and political instability, successful operation of democracy in Fiji has been hampered by racial division, elite manipulation, ethnically biased policies, poor civil/military relations, and economic decline. Coups have become the accepted way to deal with unpopular electoral results or government policies. It is common for Fijian nationalists like Sitiveni Rabuka to claim that democracy is a western 4 "foreign flower" ill-suited for governing the Fijian people.1 While Fiji's overt problems are largely of poor governance-lack of regard for the rule of law, ineffective, inequitable policies and implementation-the heart of democratic failure is in the tension between democracy's basic tenet of equality in representation and Fiji's colonial era imperative of Fijian political paramountcy. Fiji's colonial legacy created a hierarchy of racial groups inherently incompatible with democracy, and the incorporation of the principle of indigenous Fijian primacy into Fiji's political institutions has produced a government incapable of good governance. The continued failure of Fijian democracy and its attendant democratic institutions to govern effectively in accordance with democratic principles and in protection of all Fiji Islanders suggests that alterations must be made to the existing system. Elite manipulation, military involvement, and economic decline have also contributed to the failure of good governance in Fiji. In contrast to Fijian political paramountcy, which directly undercuts Fiji's political institutions, these three issues have their roots in poor policy development-elite manipulation in the existence of incentives to appeal on ethnic lines, military involvement in the prestige and power accorded that institution by constitutions and Parliaments, and economic decline in the inability of political institutions to foster a productive policy environment. While these issues contribute to and intensify the tendency for Fijian governments to engage in poor governance practices, the inability ofinstitutions to rein in these issues connects directly and more broadly to the tension between democratic institutions and Fijian political paramountcy. The overriding doctrine of Fijian paramountcy, which has worked its way into every Constitution and ensuing political institution since independence, dictates that the Fijian government must privilege the rights and goals of indigenous Fijians over all other ethnic 1 Elizabeth Feizkhah, "Smash and Grab" TIME Asia.
Recommended publications
  • Reflections on the 1987 Fiji Coups Sanjay Ramesh

    Reflections on the 1987 Fiji Coups Sanjay Ramesh

    162 Fijian Studies Vol. 5 No. 1 Dialogue: Reflections on the 1987 Coup 163 gence Agency (CIA) was behind the coups. The reasons for what has been termed as the ‘CIA chimera’, are many and varied (see Lal, 1990, and Scobell, Reflections on the 1987 Fiji Coups 1994). Immediately after the coup, the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) embarked on a propaganda campaign, informing the coup sympathisers that the coalition had relations with the former Soviet Union and Libya and as such posed a direct Sanjay Ramesh threat to the western alliance and to Fijian traditions and values. Widespread rumours of the coalition being socialist and left-wing in orientation led some The coups of 1987 have become a bitter memory for the people of Fiji, observers to conclude that the CIA was involved. Other observations, such as but unanswered questions still linger about the whole incident. Did then Colonel US Hercules carriers making brief and suspicious stopovers at the Nadi Interna- Sitiveni Rabuka, who claimed that intervention of the army in Fiji’s political tional Airport; the presence of US Ambassador to UN Vernon Walters in the process was necessary to avert ethnic bloodshed (Rabuka, 2000: 9), act entirely country for talks with the coalition in response to the coalitions non-alignment on an instinct to save the indigenous Fijian race from the Indo-Fijian political policy; the appearance of retired US army officer Larry Mackenna at the US designs, or were there other forces at work? Embassy in full military uniform; and the dubious political activities of the The deposed Prime Minister late Dr.
  • We Are Kai Tonga”

    We Are Kai Tonga”

    5. “We are Kai Tonga” The islands of Moala, Totoya and Matuku, collectively known as the Yasayasa Moala, lie between 100 and 130 kilometres south-east of Viti Levu and approximately the same distance south-west of Lakeba. While, during the nineteenth century, the three islands owed some allegiance to Bau, there existed also several family connections with Lakeba. The most prominent of the few practising Christians there was Donumailulu, or Donu who, after lotuing while living on Lakeba, brought the faith to Moala when he returned there in 1852.1 Because of his conversion, Donu was soon forced to leave the island’s principal village, Navucunimasi, now known as Naroi. He took refuge in the village of Vunuku where, with the aid of a Tongan teacher, he introduced Christianity.2 Donu’s home island and its two nearest neighbours were to be the scene of Ma`afu’s first military adventures, ostensibly undertaken in the cause of the lotu. Richard Lyth, still working on Lakeba, paid a pastoral visit to the Yasayasa Moala in October 1852. Despite the precarious state of Christianity on Moala itself, Lyth departed in optimistic mood, largely because of his confidence in Donu, “a very steady consistent man”.3 He observed that two young Moalan chiefs “who really ruled the land, remained determined haters of the truth”.4 On Matuku, which he also visited, all villages had accepted the lotu except the principal one, Dawaleka, to which Tui Nayau was vasu.5 The missionary’s qualified optimism was shattered in November when news reached Lakeba of an attack on Vunuku by the two chiefs opposed to the lotu.
  • Reef Check Description of the 2000 Mass Coral Beaching Event in Fiji with Reference to the South Pacific

    Reef Check Description of the 2000 Mass Coral Beaching Event in Fiji with Reference to the South Pacific

    REEF CHECK DESCRIPTION OF THE 2000 MASS CORAL BEACHING EVENT IN FIJI WITH REFERENCE TO THE SOUTH PACIFIC Edward R. Lovell Biological Consultants, Fiji March, 2000 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................4 2.0 Methods.........................................................................................................................................4 3.0 The Bleaching Event .....................................................................................................................5 3.1 Background ................................................................................................................................5 3.2 South Pacific Context................................................................................................................6 3.2.1 Degree Heating Weeks.......................................................................................................6 3.3 Assessment ..............................................................................................................................11 3.4 Aerial flight .............................................................................................................................11 4.0 Survey Sites.................................................................................................................................13 4.1 Northern Vanua Levu Survey..................................................................................................13
  • Setting Priorities for Marine Conservation in the Fiji Islands Marine Ecoregion Contents

    Setting Priorities for Marine Conservation in the Fiji Islands Marine Ecoregion Contents

    Setting Priorities for Marine Conservation in the Fiji Islands Marine Ecoregion Contents Acknowledgements 1 Minister of Fisheries Opening Speech 2 Acronyms and Abbreviations 4 Executive Summary 5 1.0 Introduction 7 2.0 Background 9 2.1 The Fiji Islands Marine Ecoregion 9 2.2 The biological diversity of the Fiji Islands Marine Ecoregion 11 3.0 Objectives of the FIME Biodiversity Visioning Workshop 13 3.1 Overall biodiversity conservation goals 13 3.2 Specifi c goals of the FIME biodiversity visioning workshop 13 4.0 Methodology 14 4.1 Setting taxonomic priorities 14 4.2 Setting overall biodiversity priorities 14 4.3 Understanding the Conservation Context 16 4.4 Drafting a Conservation Vision 16 5.0 Results 17 5.1 Taxonomic Priorities 17 5.1.1 Coastal terrestrial vegetation and small offshore islands 17 5.1.2 Coral reefs and associated fauna 24 5.1.3 Coral reef fi sh 28 5.1.4 Inshore ecosystems 36 5.1.5 Open ocean and pelagic ecosystems 38 5.1.6 Species of special concern 40 5.1.7 Community knowledge about habitats and species 41 5.2 Priority Conservation Areas 47 5.3 Agreeing a vision statement for FIME 57 6.0 Conclusions and recommendations 58 6.1 Information gaps to assessing marine biodiversity 58 6.2 Collective recommendations of the workshop participants 59 6.3 Towards an Ecoregional Action Plan 60 7.0 References 62 8.0 Appendices 67 Annex 1: List of participants 67 Annex 2: Preliminary list of marine species found in Fiji. 71 Annex 3 : Workshop Photos 74 List of Figures: Figure 1 The Ecoregion Conservation Proccess 8 Figure 2 Approximate
  • Converging Currents Custom and Human Rights in the Pacific 

    Converging Currents Custom and Human Rights in the Pacific 

    September 2006, Wellington, New Zealand | STUDY PAPER 17 CoNvERgiNg CURRENTS Custom and human rights in the paCifiC The Law Commission is an independent, publicly funded, central advisory body established by statute to undertake the systematic review, reform and development of the law of New Zealand. its purpose is to help achieve law that is just, principled, and accessible, and that reflects the heritage and aspirations of the peoples of New Zealand. The Commissioners are: Right Honourable Sir geoffrey Palmer – President Dr Warren Young – Deputy President Honourable Justice Eddie Durie Helen Aikman qC The Manager of the Law Commission is Brigid Corcoran The office of the Law Commission is at 89 The Terrace, Wellington Postal address: Po Box 2590, Wellington 6001, New Zealand Document Exchange Number: sp 23534 Telephone: (04) 473–3453, Facsimile: (04) 914–4760 Email: [email protected] internet: www.lawcom.govt.nz National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data New Zealand. Law Commission. Custom and human rights in the Pacific / Law Commission. (Study paper, 1174-9776 ; 17) iSBN 1-877316-08-3 1. Customary law—oceania. 2. Human rights—oceania. 3. Civil rights—oceania. i. Title. ii. Series: Study paper (New Zealand. Law Commission) 340.5295—dc 22 Study Paper/Law Commission, Wellington 2006 iSSN 1174-9776 iSBN 1-877316-08-3 This study paper may be cited as NZLC SP17 This study paper is also available on the internet at the Commission’s website: www.lawcom.govt.nz <http://www.lawcom.govt.nz> LawCommissionStudyPaper He Poroporoaki The New Zealand Law Commission acknowledges with deep regret the passing of two notable Pacific leaders shortly before the printing of this study, the Maori queen and the King of Tonga.
  • Fiji Elections: Bainimarama Rebuked but Returned

    Fiji Elections: Bainimarama Rebuked but Returned

    Published on November 16, 2018 Officials at work in the results centre for the Fiji election (Credit: ABC News/Michael Barnett) Fiji elections: Bainimarama rebuked but returned By Stewart Firth Fiji went to the polls on 14 November in its second election since the restoration of democracy in 2014. Fiji’s experience with democracy since independence in 1970 has been a tortured one. Three coups have interrupted democratic government in the last thirty years – in 1987, 2000 and 2006 – and the last was followed by eight years of military Link: https://devpolicy.org/fiji-elections-20181116/ Page 1 of 6 Date downloaded: September 30, 2021 Published on November 16, 2018 rule, with Frank Bainimarama as self-appointed Prime Minister. Bainimarama then led his Fiji First party to victory in the 2014 elections and became the elected Prime Minister under a constitution of his own devising. A kind of stability has since settled on Fiji, though the country has not returned to democracy in its fullest sense, that is with a fully independent judiciary and media. Instead, people who cast their vote on 14 November knew that unless they returned the Bainimarama Government, another coup was possible. The victory of Bainimarama’s Fiji First party was predicted in the polls and likely given the arithmetic of Fiji elections. With a large majority of Indo-Fijians supporting him, Bainimarama needed only to gain the backing of a minority of indigenous Fijians to win. Indo-Fijian voters remain grateful to Bainimarama for overturning a pro-indigenous Fijian government in the 2006 coup, and for abolishing Fiji’s racially-skewed system of voting under which race was a key category.
  • Media Intimidation in Fiji's 2014 Elections

    Media Intimidation in Fiji's 2014 Elections

    5 ‘Unfree and unfair’?: Media intimidation in Fiji’s 2014 elections David Robie Introduction Fiji was a media pariah among Pacific nations, as well as a political outcast, for much of the eight years after Voreqe Bainimarama’s military coup in December 2006. But while some media credibility was restored in the months leading up to the 2014 general elections and during the ballot itself, the elephant is still in the room: the 2010 Media Industry Development Decree (Fijian Government 2010). While this Decree remains in force, Fiji can hardly claim to have a truly free and fair media. Just seven months out from the September 17 elections, Fiji was ranked 107th out of 179 countries listed in the 2014 World Press Freedom Index prepared by the Paris-based global media freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF). That ranking was an improvement on the previous year (RSF 2014a), rising 10 places from the 2013 ranking. The major reason for this improvement was the adoption of the new Constitution on 6 September 2013, criticised as 83 THE PEOPLE Have SPOKEN it was in many quarters during that year, and the promise of ‘free and fair’ elections by 30 September 2014. The elections gave Fiji’s ranking a further boost, rising 14 places to 93rd (RSF 2015). There was considerable hope among news media and civil society groups that the general elections would open the door to a free media climate, which had been lacking since the coup. Over the past few months there has been a marked improvement in public debate and news media have been relatively more robust in terms of published political comment and debate, particularly in news columns and in letters to the editor.
  • 'The People Have Spoken …'

    'The People Have Spoken …'

    1 ‘The People Have Spoken …’ Steven Ratuva and Stephanie Lawson Fiji’s general elections of 17 September 2014, held eight years after Fiji’s fourth coup, saw some significant firsts, generated largely by new constitutional arrangements. These included a radically deracialised electoral system in which the entire country forms a single electorate and utilises open-list proportional representation. This system, brought in under the regime of coup leader Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, was designed first and foremost to encourage a shift away from previous patterns of electoral behaviour which, due in large measure to provisions for communal electorates and voting, were inevitably attuned to communal political identities and the perceived interests attached to them. Elections under such a system certainly allowed ‘the people’ to speak, but in a way which gave primacy to those particular identities and interests and, arguably, contributed to a political culture that saw democracy itself severely undermined in the process. This was illustrated only too clearly by the recurrence of coups d’état between 1987 and 2006 that all revolved, in one way or another, around issues of communal identity expressed through discourses of indigenous Fijian (Taukei) rights versus those of other ethnic or racial communities, especially of those of Indian descent. These discourses remain highly salient politically but, under the Constitution promulgated by the Bainimarama regime in 2013, they are no longer supported institutionally via electoral arrangements. As a result, political parties have generally been forced to at least 1 THE PEOPLE Have SPOKEN attempt to appeal to all ethnic communities. These institutional changes have brought Fiji’s political system much closer to the standard model of liberal democracy in which ‘one person, one vote, one value’ is a basic norm.
  • Confronting Fiji Futures

    Confronting Fiji Futures

    CONFRONTING FIJI FUTURES EDITED BY A. HAROON AKRAM-LODHI Published by ANU eView The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at eview.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Confronting Fiji futures / A Haroon Akram-Lodhi (editor). ISBN: 9781921934292 (paperback) 9781921934308 (ebook) Subjects: Fiji--Politics and government. Fiji--Economic conditions. Fiji--Social conditions. Other Creators/Contributors: Akram-Lodhi, A. Haroon (Agha Haroon), 1958- editor. Dewey Number: 320.099611 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Cover photograph by M M (padmanaba01): www.flickr.com/photos/43423301@N07/3997565309/ First published 2000 by Asia Pacific Press This edition © 2016 ANU eView Stop Press Confronting the Present: The Coup of May 2000 A Haroon Akram-Lodhi On 19 May 2000, as With widespread doubt community politics that it ConfrontingFiji Futures went about who was in charge of suggested was not universal. to press, a group of 7 men the country, the Great It can be argued that the armed with machine guns Council of Chiefs met. On25 failure of the senior entered the Parliamentary May, following an intensely members of the government Complex in Suva. They took divided meeting, the council to recognise and seek to the Prime Minister, authorised the President to strengthen the fragility of Mahendra Chaudhry, establish, pending the the political consensus members of the Cabinet, and release of the hostages and helped create a climate that other members of the Fiji the resignation of the Prime made the coup possible.
  • Elections and Politics in Fiji

    Elections and Politics in Fiji

    i ii iii Co-Published by ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press The Australian National Unversity Canberra ACT 0200 Email: [email protected] Website: http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Lal, Brij V. Islands of turmoil : elections and politics in Fiji. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 7315 3751 3 ISBN 1 920942 75 0 (Online document) 1. Fiji - Politics and government. 2. Fiji - Social conditions. 3. Fiji - Economic conditions. I. Title. 996.11 This work is copyright. Apart from those uses which may be permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publishers. The views expressed in this book are those of the author and not necessarily of the publishers. Editor: Bridget Maidment Publisher: Asia Pacific Press and ANU E Press Design: Annie Di Nallo Design Printers: University Printing Service, The Australian National University Cover photo, Nukulau Prison, is copyright and used with permission (www.fijilive.com). Author photo by Darren Boyd, Coombs Photography. First edition © 2006 ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press For the people of the Fiji Islands There is a dawn at the end of the darkest night v Contents Abbreviations vii Preface viii 1. The road to independence 1 2. Continuity and change 24 3. Things fall apart 49 4. Back from the abyss 77 5. Rabuka’s republic 100 6. Charting a new course 126 7. A time to change 155 8. George Speight’s coup 185 9. In George Speight’s shadow 206 10.
  • General Assembly Distr.: General 10 November 2001

    General Assembly Distr.: General 10 November 2001

    United Nations A/56, i/611 General Assembly Distr.: General 10 November 2001 Original: English Fifty-sixth session Agenda item 35 Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies United NationsJElectoral Observer Mission for the general elections iri Fiji in August 2001 ' Report of the Secretary-General I. Summary statistical analysis and broad consultations with representatives of Fijian society, the United Nations 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to has concluded that the elections were conducted in a General Assembly resolution 55/280 of 25 July 2001, credible manner and that the results reflected the will in which the Secretary-General was authorized to of the people of Fiji. establish and requested to deploy the United Nations 4. During the period of post-election observation, Electoral Observer Mission to monitor the electoral however, a number of concerns were registered process and immediate post-election environment in regarding the formation of the Government. In Fiji and requested to report on the implementation of contravention of the Constitution, a multiparty Cabinet the resolution. was not formed and this is now the subject of a legal 2. Resolution 55/280 was adopted in response to a challenge. letter dated 4 June 2001 from the caretaker Government of Fiji to the Secretary-General (see II. Background A/55/1016), in which the United Nations was requested to send observers to attend the upcoming general elections, which were being held as part of an Recent political history expressed determination to restore the system of constitutional democracy that was derailed by the coup 5.
  • Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, I994

    Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, I994

    Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, I994 A review of Solomon Islands was not Tailevu seat to SVT'S candidate, Bau available for this issue. high chief Adi Samanunu Talakuli. Rabuka accused his Fijian detractors FIJI of disloyalty and treachery and asked The first significant event of the year his people for a second chance. They came in February when the country responded. The Indo-Fijian side of the went to snap polls following the defeat electorate preferred Jai Ram Reddy's of the budget in November 1993. The moderate, conciliatory stance to budget was defeated by 10 government Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhary's backbenchers who joined 27 Indo­ more aggressive tone. Fijian opposition members to vote Back in office with a secure man­ against it. Sitiveni Rabuka's oppo­ date, Rabuka promised the country a nents had hoped to use the election to "stable, decisive, consistent and coher­ oust him from office, but they miscal­ ent" government (PR, 21 Mar 1994). culated. Confounding critics and dissi­ To that end, he resurrected a previous, dents, Rabuka and his party, the hastily conceived proposal to include Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei the National Federation Party (NFP) in (SVT), returned to power with 32 of the a coalition government. The sugges­ 37 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians tion came in typical Rabuka fashion, under the 1990 constitution, and without consultation or prior discus­ formed a coalition government with sion with anyone, including his parlia­ the General Voters Party. On the.Indo­ mentary caucus. Neither his own party Fijian side, the National Federation nor the NFP knew precisely what Party increased its parliamentary Rabuka had in mind.