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Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1999

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Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1999 Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1999 Reviews of Irian Jaya, Papua New the Fijian Association Party (fap), and Guinea, and Solomon Islands are not the western Viti Levu–based Party of included in this issue. National Unity (panu)—the so-called People’s Coalition. The partnership that had been Fiji forged between the svt’s Rabuka The year 1999 marked the end of an and nfp’s Jai Ram Reddy during the era in Fiji’s politics. Few events were review and promulgation of the new more momentous and unexpected constitution flowed into other areas than the overwhelming electoral vic- of cooperation. The parties agreed to tory of the Fiji Labour Party and its a seat-sharing formula in early 1999 coalition partners in May and the that would see the svt contest all swearing in of Labour Party leader Fijian communal seats and 14 open Mahendra Chaudhary as the country’s seats, and the nfp all Indian commu- first Indo-Fijian prime minister. With nal seats and 11 open seats. The ugp a new government taking office, there was given all 3 general communal occurred an upheaval in Fiji’s political seats and 2 of the open seats allocated leadership not seen since 1987. Exit- to the svt. There was also agreement ing parliament were Prime Minister that in the event of a svt-nfp-ugp vic- Sitiveni Rabuka and National Federa- tory Rabuka would become prime tion Party (nfp) leader Jai Ram Reddy, minister, while Reddy would be a veteran of Fiji’s politics for the past deputy prime minister. quarter century. Also consigned to the No such agreement on seat sharing political wilderness was the nfp itself, or leadership was reached by the Peo- after failing to win a single seat in the ple’s Coalition, a fact that was heavily new parliament. exploited by its opposition in the elec- The prospect of a general election tion campaign that began in April. in 1999, conducted under the provi- While the svt-nfp-ugp presented itself sions of the 1997 constitution, had as the more solid and stable coalition, always promised to make this a partic- it branded the People’s Coalition “a ularly interesting year. The introduc- sham” and warned voters that its tion of open seats and the alternative members would fight over the posi- vote electoral system compelled parties tion of prime minister if they won. To into forming multiracial alliances. In the People’s Coalition, however, this 1998 two rival coalitions emerged. was not an issue. The prime minister The first combined the ruling Soqo- would be chosen once the results were soqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (svt) in. The Labour Party also countered party with the Indo-Fijian based nfp by attacking the svt-nfp-ugp Coali- and the general electors’ United Gen- tion for not having a single campaign erals Party (ugp). The other was a manifesto (unlike the People’s Coali- marriage between the mainly Indo- tion). This exposed a fundamental Fijian based Fiji Labour Party (flp), weakness in the alliance between the 507 508 the contemporary pacific • fall 2000 svt and the nfp that Labour in par- unreality” surrounding the svt-nfp- ticular was keen to exploit. With the ugp campaign. While Reddy and svt campaigning on its record in Rabuka naively complained about the office, the nfp was faced with the opposition “ganging up on them,” dilemma of having to “go soft” on its other candidates warned of a coup partner’s policies, which it had previ- and bloodshed if the government lost ously derided while in opposition. (SP, 25 Apr 1999, 1). Thus its campaign was confined to The People’s Coalition, on the the more intangible and somewhat other hand, focused on the issues it vague areas of multiracialism, forgive- believed really mattered to the voters: ness, and the new constitution. “land leases, corruption, unemploy- The nfp also directed its fire at ment, crime and poverty” (FT, 20 April Labour’s willingness to allocate its 1999, 3). An ill-timed decision by the preferences not only to its coalition svt government to proceed with the partners but also to a newcomer on restructuring of the Civil Aviation the campaign trail: the Fijian-based Authority of Fiji, leading to the dis- Christian Democratic Alliance or missal just before the election of four Veitokani ni Lewanivanua Vakarisito hundred workers who did not accept (vlv). This emerged as the “third voluntary redundancy, provided pow- force” in the election, fielding a num- erful ammunition. ber of prominent and well-connected While it was expected that the elec- Fijian candidates. They included a tion would reveal disillusion with the former army commander, Ratu Epeli svt (especially among grassroots Ganilau; a senior civil servant, Poseci Fijians) and that Indian voters would Bune; and Adi Koila Nailatikau, the not be comfortable with the nfp’s daughter of President Ratu Sir Kamis- alliance with the old enemy, Rabuka, ese Mara. While the vlv seemed torn most observers predicted that a win between moderates and conservatives for the svt and its allies was a fore- (especially on such issues as reactivat- gone conclusion. So confident was the ing the Sunday ban and declaring Fiji Review magazine, that its May edi- a Christian state), it nevertheless stood tion published a cover story on “Our united on its principal goal of unseat- New Cabinet”: a Rabuka and Reddy- ing the ruling svt. led government. In the absence of In this it found common ground national opinion polls, there was little with the People’s Coalition, as evident to go on. However, a Times-Tebbutt in their exchange of preferences. poll conducted in early May put Labour, fap, and vlv put each other’s Prime Minister Rabuka as preferred candidates ahead of the svt-nfp-ugp leader (at 26 percent), followed by the candidates. The nfp expressed out- fap’s Adi Kuini Speed (17 percent) rage at Labour’s tactics, branding the and Chaudhary (15 percent). vlv as an extremist party and Labour Polling began on 8 May. With as “devoid of morality.” Its campaign compulsory voting introduced for the advertisements played heavily on what first time, 437,195 voters were on the it thought was a vulnerable spot: “A rolls (100,000 more than in the 1994 vote for Labour is a vote for the vlv election). There were 304 candidates or the Christian party.” Commenta- (including 10 women) from 16 politi- tors, though, described an “air of cal parties contesting the 71 parlia- political reviews • melanesia 509 mentary seats. Twelve thousand offi- unthinkable: Mahendra Chaudhary cials were engaged to conduct the for prime minister. As the Fiji Times elections, which were estimated to editorialized: “Chaudhry deserves to cost f$6.7 million. Not surprisingly, be Prime Minister. A Fijian face would given the massive scale of the election be a sham and would be seen as such and the new and unfamiliar electoral by the whole nation” (FT, 19 May system, there were problems galore. 1999, 6). The Daily Post called on The most common were names not Chaudhary not to be intimidated: appearing on the electoral rolls (one “You have the mandate. The people commentator dubbed this “the elec- are on your side” (DP, 21 May 1999, tion of the missing names”), long 1). With his party’s endorsement, queues and delays at polling stations, Chaudhary moved quickly to secure and the high incidence of invalid the president’s support and was sworn votes (which was seen to reflect voter in as prime minister on 19 May. He confusion about the new system). then offered one of two deputy prime Voters were given the option of voting ministerial positions to the fap’s Adi “above the line” for one party only, Kuini Speed (the other went to which gave that party the right to Labour’s Dr Tupeni Baba). allocate preferences, or “below the In retrospect, Chaudhary’s speed line,” where the voter numbered each precluded what may well have been candidate and thus allocated their protracted and messy negotiations own preferences. More than 90 per- with his coalition partners, some of cent of voters chose the “above the whom were openly hostile to his can- line” option. didature. Both panu and the fap sup- Surpassing even its own expecta- ported Adi Kuini and attempted to tions, the Fiji Labour Party won 37 persuade the president not to recog- of the 71 seats. Its coalition partners, nize Chaudhary but to recognize fap and panu, also scored big wins their candidate instead. Ratu Mara’s (11 and 4 seats respectively). On the response, however, was unequivocal: other hand, the svt and the nfp suf- “For the sake of the country” they fered crushing defeats. While the svt should join the Labour government. managed to hold onto 8 seats, the nfp, Still smarting from what she described as noted earlier, did not win a single as Labour’s “lack of sensitivity” for seat. The ugp secured 2 seats, the vlv failing to consult with its partners on won 3, the Fijian Nationalist Party the prime ministership, Adi Kuini (Vanua Tako‘lavo) won 2, and Inde- agreed to accept Chaudhary’s offer. pendents won 4. It was estimated that In conceding defeat, Rabuka (who while Labour did not rely on prefer- had won his own seat in Cakaudrove) ences to secure its victory (it would warned the new government not to also have won under the first-past- use its majority to implement anti- the-post system), the svt’s defeat was Fijian policies. While accusing Indo- largely because of the preference sys- Fijian voters of rejecting multiracial- tem used against it by other parties.
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