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Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2014

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Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2014 Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2014 New Caledonia and Papua are not reservations about holding an election reviewed in this issue. at all, accused sodelpa of exacerbat- ing ethnic divisions and of planning Fiji to release 2000 coup leader George The first nine months of 2014 in Speight, and said that Suva would not Fiji were dominated by preparations be allowed to “burn” again (rnzi, for the long-awaited 17 September 4 Sept 2014; Fiji Sun, 4 Sept 2014; election. In accordance with the fbc, 11 Sept 2014). Heroic interpreta- “Strategic Framework for Change” tions of the military’s response to the set out in July 2009, a new constitu- Speight coup of May 2000 had long tion had been put in place in 2013 been used to consolidate rank-and-file (see Fraenkel 2014), but the associ- control in the army (see Bainimarama ated electoral arrangements were 2014a). Now, in the context of the finalized only in March 2014. In the election campaign, these were used same month, Prime Minister Voreqe to remind the minority communities Bainimarama stepped down as about the risk of instability in the military commander and announced event of a poor showing for FijiFirst. the formation of his new politi- If the early September poll was cal party, FijiFirst. Also in March, correct, voter loyalties polarized in Rewa high chief Ro Teimumu Kepa the weeks before the polls, with the became leader of the main Opposi- smaller parties losing support. The tion party, the Social Democratic and final outcome gave FijiFirst 59.2 Liberal Party (sodelpa, formerly the percent of the national vote and 32 of Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua the 50 parliamentary seats, a landslide [sdl]). Initial polls released by the Fiji victory. sodelpa had 15 seats and Sun’s Razor Research gave Bainima- 28.2 percent of the national vote. The rama a commanding 79 percent only other party to cross the 5 percent lead and suggested negligible sup- threshold was the National Federa- port for sodelpa (Fiji Sun, 2 March tion Party (nfp), which obtained the 2014), but these were widely consid- remaining 3 seats. The Fiji Labour ered untrustworthy. As the polling Party (flp), which had obtained 39.2 day drew closer, a Times-Tebbutt percent of the national vote in 2006, poll found 21 percent support for slumped to 2.4 percent. The People’s sodelpa and 45 percent for FijiFirst, Democratic Party (pdp)—a breakaway implying that the gap was narrow- from the flp—fared only slightly ing and encouraging expectations of better, with 3.2 percent. Predictably, a pre election surge in support for the given the high threshold, the two Opposition (Fiji Times, 6 Sept 2014). independents obtained few votes. In the heated atmosphere of early Owing to Fiji’s history of election- September, Bainimarama expressed triggered coups, fears of military inter- 508 political reviews • melanesia 509 vention inevitably lurked in the back- the election, it was announced that the ground during the 2014 campaign, or new commander was relocating to an at least they did so as long as the result office in Berkley Crescent, close to the was uncertain. Bainimarama’s replace- nerve centers of government (Fiji Sun, ment as military commander, former 12 June 2014). Land Force Commander Brigadier The 2014 election was fought using Mosese Tikoitoga, said in April that a new uniquely candidate-centered, the role of the Republic of Fiji Mili- open-list, proportional representa- tary Forces (rfmf) was to defend the tion (pr) system. Open-list systems by new constitution and that “whatever definition center on choices of politi- government the people choose, we will cal party as well as candidate, but support it.” However, he also warned Fiji’s ballot paper offered no obvious that “if people throw out the current party choice whatsoever. Only the constitution as current political parties candidates’ allotted numbers were are talking about—then they have visible on the ballot papers, not their thrown out the chance of avoiding party affiliations. Nevertheless, as in coups” (Islands Business, April 2014; Finland and Brazil, it was the party rnzi, 24 June 2014; FijiLive, 21 June tallies that were indirectly critical for 2014). The desire to keep the military determining how many seats each out of politics may have been genuine, party won. Individual candidate tallies but that commitment proved difficult were summed at the counting center to sustain, particularly for an institu- to reach party tallies, thus determining tion as intertwined with the fabric of how many seats each party obtained. Fijian life as the rfmf. In July, the Only after this calculation of party rfmf announced it was severing all seat entitlements did the highest intra- ties with former military officer and party personal votes determine which sodelpa candidate Ratu Suliano of each party’s candidates were elected Matanitobua after he appealed to the (for further detail on the difference people of Namosi to put obligations between open- and closed-list pr to the vanua (indigenous system) over systems, see ace 2015). Also unusu- loyalties to the rfmf (FijiLive, 31 July ally for open-list pr systems, the 2014 2014). Immunities for actions taken election was fought using a single during the 2006 coup and thereafter national constituency (see the discus- were entrenched in the 2013 Consti- sion by electoral commissioner Father tution and these were as vital to the David Arms of a model using three, RFMF senior command as they were to four, or five multimember constituen- the government leadership. Hence, the cies [Arms 2012]). The voting age was military top brass carefully guarded reduced from 21 to 18, and Fiji citi- its rehabilitated constitutional respon- zens residing in other countries were sibility “to ensure at all times, the for the first time entitled to vote. security, defence and well-being of Most importantly, this was Fiji’s Fiji and all Fijians” (Fiji Government first general election without commu- 2013, section 131 (2) [section 5 (1) nal rolls. Ever since 1929, Fiji’s gen- provides that “all citizens of Fiji shall eral elections had separated “Fijians,” be known as Fijians”]). Shortly before “Indians,” and “Others” by race, and 510 the contemporary pacific • 27:2 (2015) required each ethnic group to cast was convicted of exchange control ballots entailing choices of leaders fraud in early 2014, but eventu- within their communities (though ally—after the election—he avoided a often with supplementary votes cast fifteen-month prison term by paying in “cross-voting” [1966], “national” a fine of f$2 million (approximately [1972–1987], or “open” [1999–2006] us$1,080,000 in mid-2014). Without constituencies on a common roll). its longtime leader, the flp polled Within Fiji, this major 2014 change poorly. Its former strongholds in the was often misleadingly described as sugarcane belts of Ba (western Viti serving to “eliminate racial voting,” Levu) and Macuata (northern Vanua largely because the latter had been Levu) instead gave majority support to one of Bainimarama’s 2012 “non- FijiFirst. negotiable” provisions expected of Other would-be candidates were the new constitution (for a discussion also prohibited from contesting. of these deliberations, see Fraenkel sodelpa’s preferred representa- 2013). What the new electoral frame- tive for the Lau Islands, sacked civil work did do was remove the insti- servant Anare Jale, had his nomina- tutional endorsement of race-based tion rejected on the grounds that voting and end the long-standing (due to his termination) he had been gerrymander in favor of rural parts of working as a consultant in Solomon the country. Islands and thus was claimed not to Voter registration in 2014 was up be, as required under a belated July 23 percent over 2006 levels, partly amendment to the Electoral Decree, reflecting the new enfranchisement “ordinarily resident in Fiji for at least of those aged 18 to 21. Turnout 2 years immediately before being was also high, averaging 84 percent, nominated” (Fiji Government 2014, despite the abandonment of compul- section 23, paragraph 4[c]; pina, 4 sory voting. The 5 percent threshold Aug 2014). discouraged independents, who would Disagreement flared between the have needed 24,819 votes to gain Electoral Commission and Supervisor a single seat. If they failed to reach of Elections Mohammed Saneem after that threshold, votes for the smaller the latter decided to allow FijiFirst’s parties also entailed wasted votes. Praveen Bala Kumar to contest, The Electoral Decree forbade can- despite his being a public officer at the didates who had “been convicted of time of nomination, and to incorrectly any offence under any law for which disqualify one of the flp candidates the maximum penalty is a term of (rnzi, 23 Aug 2014; FijiLive, 23 imprisonment of 12 months or more” Aug 2014). The commission tried to (Fiji Government 2014, section 23, reverse both decisions, but the super- paragraph 4). That ruled out deposed visor said that their advice had come Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, who too late (rnzi, 26 Aug 2014; Islands had served a one-year prison sentence Business, Aug 2014). The commis- in 2012–2013, and also disqualified sioners boycotted the announcement FLP leader and former Prime Minister of the National Candidate List on 23 Mahendra Chaudhry. Mr Chaudhry August and took the matter to court, political reviews • melanesia 511 though the case was dismissed on through Vesikula’s speech in Verata. the grounds that the three-day time The hornet’s nest had been stirred limit for objections was valid in law only on the prime minister’s return (High Court of Fiji 2014). The dispute to Suva, where the favored reaction briefly threatened to ruin the credibil- was punitive rather than political.
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