Election in Fiji from 25th August: will
it make a dent on the racial fault lines?
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
It was just two years ago that a new government led by Mahendra
Chaudhry was installed under the 1997 constitution. There were high hopes
that with the new government, the racial divide which had troubled the
nation before would soon be replaced by a process of reconciliation under
the new dispensation between the indigenous Melanesian population and the
descendants of indentured Indians. But it was not to be.
In May 2000, a group of armed thugs led by George Speight stormed the
parliament which was in session and took Mahendra Chaudhry and most of the
cabinet ministers and other legislators as hostages. Speight claimed that
he was taking armed action in the interest of Fijian community for getting
power "back to Fijians." The real motive of Speight a failed
business man and other collaborators who were defeated politicians and
others who lost their power, appeared to be something else. It has since
come to light that many disgruntled army men as well as the former coup
leader Rabuka were also behind the armed action of Speight.
Speight’s action was a set back to democracy in Fiji and what is more,
it was a blow to the process of reconciliation envisaged under the 1997
constitution. After the army’s intervention, an interim administration
under Laisenia Qarase was formed and it appeared that the only item on the
agenda of Qarase was to change the constitution and replace it with one
that would ensure ethnic Fijian political supremacy in the country.
With the same objective in view President Ratu Iliolo appointed a
commission (CRC- Constitution Reforms Commission) to review the
constitution. The Fiji Labour party of Mahendra Chaudhry filed a judicial
review petition in the Court and an interim injunction was granted which
barred the Commission from sitting. The President while obeying the order
of the court, reappointed the Commission again after disbanding the CRC.
The High Court again issued a directive to the CRC to stop functioning and
using public funds. President Iliolo finally obeyed the court order and
the commission was disbanded in the first week of July this year.
In the beginning of May this year, Qarase launched a new political
party Soqosoqo Duvatanl Lewenivanua (SDL) with the objective to
"unify all races of the people in Fiji and maintaining Fijian
supremacy in the country." Qarase has been using the report of the
now disbanded Constitution Reforms Commission in his election campaign and
has vowed that if voted to power, he would throw out the 1997
Constitution. Ms. Adikuini a Deputy prime minister in the now dissolved
Chaudhry’s cabinet aptly described the SDL party of Qarase as one that
"represents everything which has been wrong in the past- greed,
corruption, racism and lawlessness."
The Election System: The elections now being held from August
25-September 1, 2001 will be the second under the 1997 constitution.
This
constitution brought in significant changes to the election itself and the
composition of the Parliament. Elections would be under preferential
voting system similar to the Australian pattern and not the one based on
"first past the post." The second major change was the abolition
of multi member constituencies. There are seventy one seats in the house
now and the division of seats is shown in the table below with a
comparison of the 1990 constitution
House of Representatives:
|
|
1990 Constitution |
1997 Constitution |
|
Fiji Seats |
37 |
23 |
|
Indian Seats |
27 |
19 |
|
Rotuman Seats |
1 |
1 |
|
General Seats |
5 |
3 |
|
Open Seats |
- |
25 |
|
Total |
70 |
71 |
Map of Fiji-Islands:
It could be seen that the local Fijians are still given a larger share
of the ethnic seats, thus protecting their interests. Also significant is
that 35 percent of seats (25) have been left as open seats for all
communities as that would ensure cross ethnic voting for the success of
the candidates.
The candidates and parties participating in the elections: In all
351 candidates are standing for elections to the 71 seats with the interim
Prime minister’s party SDL fielding the maximum number (59). The
leading political parties contesting the elections are
1. SVT of Felipe Bole: It was once a powerful party with the blessings
of the Great Council of Chiefs and of late had moved to a moderate
position. Though it defended the Indian community, it is essentially a
Fijian outfit
2. NFP of Jogindra Singh: It is an Indo-Fijian party, formerly led by
the well known JaiRam Reddy. It has been a bitter rival to the other Indo
Fijian party of Chaudhry and has refused even to swap preferential votes
in the election.
3. NLUP: Led by Dr. Tupeni Baba, former deputy Prime minister in
Chaudhry’s cabinet. He had since fallen out with Chaudhry and started a
party of his own in May, 2001. One good aspect of the party is that it
stresses the unity of all races in the ethic of "love thy
brother." Tupeni Baba has managed to wean away a large number of Indo
Fijians from the labour party and is a popular leader in his own right.
He
could make a dent on the electoral prospects of Chaudhry’s party.
4. FLP: Led by Mahendra Chaudhry, it is a multi racial party and party
sources claim that Mahendra Chaudhry will again become the prime minister.
Chaudhry’s failure to have a deal with the NFP ( National Federation
Party) and his falling out with Dr. Baba may adversely affect the chances
of the party.
5. SDL: of Laisenia Qarase, the current interim Prime minister. Its aim
is to consolidate the indigenous Fijian vote and seek the abolition of
1997 constitution. One strong point of this party is that the powerful
Methodist Church is supporting this party.
It could be seen that both the Fijian and Indo Fijian votes will be
split in the coming elections and more so in the case of Indo-Fijians.
From a long term point of view, this is a good development although one
could argue that for the present, Indo Fijians would be benefitted more if
their votes are consolidated.
A surprising development is that George Speight and his co-conspirator,
a former SAS member have both put in their names as candidates. Speight is
standing for the extreme Fijian Nationalist party- the Conservative
alliance which has put up candidates for all seats other than the 19 seats
reserved for Indo Fijians. Legally, Speight cannot take his place until
his treason trials are over and if he is sentenced he has to give up his
seat
Monitoring teams to ensure free and fair elections: The United
Nations has sent a monitoring mission comprising of 24 volunteers and 16
U.N. personnel. Of the 24 volunteers 10 are from Japan. The Commonwealth
has sent a six-member observer team headed by Sir Henry Forde. The
mission of the team as expressed by the leader is ‘to assess whether in
(their) judgement, the conditions exist for a free expression of will by
the electors and to determine if the results of the elections reflect the
will of the people."
So far there have been no major law and order problem during the period
leading to the elections and with the presence of monitoring teams it is
expected that the elections will be smooth.
Conclusion: The most important development in our assessment is
that the elections are still being held under 1997 Constitution which,
while giving due place to indigenous Fijians has all the ingredients for
reconciliation and racial amity. Acceptance of the verdict by all parties
will go a long way to revive the century old racial harmony and peaceful
co-existence that existed between the two communities.
