Political Conditions

 In April 1970, a constitutional conference in London agreed that Fiji should become a
fully sovereign and independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations.
 Fiji became independent on 10 October of that year.
 Post-independence politics came to be dominated by Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara and
the Alliance Party, which commanded the support of the traditional Fijian chiefs,
along with leading elements of the European and part-European communities, and
some Indo-Fijians.
 The main parliamentary opposition, the National Federation Party, represented
mainly rural Indo- Fijians.
 Intercommunal relations were managed without serious confrontation.
 A short-lived constitutional crisis developed after the parliamentary election of March
1977, when the Indian-led National Federation Party (NFP) won a narrow majority of
seats in the House of Representatives, but failed to form a government due to internal
leadership problems, as well as concerns among some of its members that indigenous
Fijians would not accept Indo-Fijian leadership. The NFP splintered in a leadership
brawl three days after the election.
 In a controversial move, the governor-general, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, called on
the defeated Mara to form an interim government, pending a second election to
resolve the impasse.
 This was held in September that year, and saw Mara's Alliance Party returned with a
record majority of 36 parliamentary seats out of 52.
 The majority of the Alliance Party was reduced in the election of 1982, but with 28
seats out of 52, Mara retained power.
 Mara proposed a "government of national unity" — a grand coalition between his
Alliance Party and the NFP, but the NFP leader, Jai Ram Reddy, rejected this.

The Two Coups Of 1987

 In April 1987, a coalition led by Dr. Timoci Bavadra, an ethnic Fijian who was
nevertheless supported mostly by the Indo-Fijian community, won the general
election and formed Fiji's first majority Indian government, with Dr. Bavadra serving
as prime minister.
 After less than a month in office, Dr. Bavadra was forcibly removed from power
during a military coup led by Lt. Col. Sitiveni Rabuka on 14 May 1987.
 On the morning of 14 May, around 10 am, a section of ten masked, armed soldiers
entered the Fijian House of Representatives and subdued the parliament, which had
gathered there for its morning session. Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, dressed in
civilian clothes, approached Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra from his position in the
public gallery and ordered the members of parliament to leave the building. They did
so without resisting. The coup was an apparent success and had been accomplished
without loss of life.
 The Governor-General dissolved Parliament and granted amnesty to Rabuka, while
promoting him to the position of commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces. The
actions of the Governor-General were viewed with suspicion by the deposed
 government and Bavadra challenged Ratu Sir Penaia's decision in the Supreme Court
of Fiji.
 From independence in 1970, Fiji's head of state was the Queen of Fiji, Elizabeth II.
The Fijian Supreme Court ruled the May coup to be totally unconstitutional, and the
Governor-General attempted to assert executive reserve power. He opened
negotiations known as the Deuba Talks with both the deposed government and the
Alliance Party, which most indigenous Fijians supported. These negotiations
culminated in the Deuba Accord of 23 September 1987, which provided for a
government of national unity, in which both parties would be represented under the
leadership of the Governor-General. Fearing that the gains of the first coup were
about to be lost, Rabuka staged a second coup on 25 September. Rabuka then declared
Fiji a republic on 10th October 1987, abrogating the Constitution of Fiji and stating
that he had removed the Governor-General from office, and declaring himself Head of
the Interim Military Government. Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau resigned as Governor-
General on 15 October, although he was made the first President of Fiji on 6
December 1987.
 This action, coupled with protests by the government of India, led to Fiji's expulsion
from the Commonwealth and official non-recognition of the Rabuka regime by
foreign governments, including Australia and New Zealand.
 On 6 December, Rabuka resigned as Head of State, and the former governor-general,
Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, was appointed the first president of the Fijian Republic.
 Mara was reappointed prime minister, and Rabuka became minister of home affairs.

The Republic
 The new government drafted a new constitution that went into force in July 1990.
 Under its terms, majorities were reserved for ethnic Fijians in both houses of the
legislature.
 Previously, in 1989, the government had released statistical information showing that
for the first time since 1946, ethnic Fijians were a majority of the population.
 More than 12,000 Indo-Fijians and other minorities had left the country in the two
years following the 1987 coups.
 After resigning from the military, Rabuka became prime minister under the new
constitution in 1992.
 Ethnic tensions simmered in 1995-1996 over the renewal of Indo-Fijian land leases
and political maneuvering surrounding the mandated 7-year review of the 1990
constitution.
 The Constitutional Review Commission produced a draft constitution which slightly
expanded the size of the legislature, lowered the proportion of seats reserved by
ethnic group, reserved the presidency for ethnic Fijians but opened the position of
prime minister to all races.
 Prime Minister Rabuka and President Mara supported the proposal, while the
nationalist indigenous Fijian parties opposed it.
 The reformed constitution was approved in July 1997.
 Fiji was readmitted to the Commonwealth in October.
  The first legislative elections held under the new constitution took place in May
1999.
 Rabuka's coalition was defeated by an alliance of Indo-Fijian parties led by
Mahendra Chaudhry, who became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian prime minister.

The Coup Of 2000

 Chaudhry's government was short-lived.
 After barely a year in office, Chaudhry and most other members of parliament were
taken hostage in the House of Representatives by gunmen led by ethnic Fijian
nationalist George Speight, on 19 May 2000.
 The standoff dragged on for 8 weeks — during which time Chaudhry was removed
from office by the then-president Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara because of his inability to
govern — before the Fijian military seized power and brokered a negotiated end to the
situation, then arrested Speight when he violated its terms.
 Former banker, Laisenia Qarase, was named interim prime minister and head of the
interim civilian government by the military and the Great Council of Chiefs in July.
 A court order restored the constitution early in 2001, and a subsequent election
confirmed Qarase as prime minister.

The Coup Of 2006

 Disgruntled by two bills before the Fijian Parliament, one offering amnesty for the
leaders of the 2000 coup and the iQoliqoli Bill, the military leader Commodore Frank
Bainimarama asked Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to resign in mid-October, 2006.
 The Prime Minister attempted to sack Bainimarama without success.
 Australian and New Zealand governments expressed concerns about a possible coup.
 On 4 November 2006, Qarase dropped the controversial amnesty measures from the
bill. On 29 November, New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters, organised talks
in Wellington between Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and Commodore
Bainimarama.
 Peters reported the talks as "positive" but after returning to Fiji, Commodore
Bainimarama announced that the military were to take over most of Suva and fire into
the harbour "in anticipation of any foreign intervention".
 Bainimarama announced on 3 December 2006 that he had taken control of Fiji.
Bainimarama restored the presidency to Ratu Josefa Iloilo on 4 January 2007, and in
turn was formally appointed interim Prime Minister by Iloilo the next day.
 2007 April – Prime Minister Bainimarama sacks the Great Council of Chiefs and
suspends all future meetings, after the chiefs refuse to endorse his government and his
nomination for vice president.

2009 Constitutional Crisis

 On April 10, 2009, Fijian President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, announced on a nationwide
radio broadcast that he had suspended the Constitution of Fiji, dismissed the Court of
Appeal and assumed all governance in the country after the court ruled that the
 current government is illegal. Bainimarama was reappointed as the Prime Minister
and announced that elections will not take place till 2014.
 Effectively, the Military remained in complete control of the country. Iloilo retired as
president in July 2009 and was replaced by Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, a former
Commander of the RFMF.
 2009 May - South Pacific nations suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum
regional bloc for its failure to hold elections.
 Most of Fiji's political controversies are related to the ethnic fault line that
characterizes Fijian politics. Fiji is one of the rare countries in the world that officially
imposes disabilities on a group that constitutes a large part of the population, on the
pretended basis of race. It has caused an exodus of the Indians, who until recently
formed a slight majority in Fiji.
 One of the main issues that have fueled the contention over the years is land tenure.
Indigenous Fijian communities very closely identify themselves with their land. In
1909, near the peak of the inflow of indentured Indian laborers, the land ownership
pattern was frozen and further sales prohibited. Today over 80% of the land is held by
indigenous Fijians, under the collective ownership of the traditional Fijian clans.
Indo-Fijians produce over 90% of the sugar crop but must lease the land they work
from its ethnic Fijian owners instead of being able to buy it outright. The leases have
been generally for 10 years, although they are usually renewed for two 10-year
extensions. Many Indo-Fijians argue that these terms do not provide them with
adequate security and have pressed for renewable 30-year leases, while many ethnic
Fijians fear that an Indo-Fijian government would erode their control over the land.
 The Indo-Fijian parties' major voting bloc is made up of sugarcane farmers. The
farmers' main tool of influence has been their ability to galvanize widespread boycotts
of the sugar industry, thereby crippling the economy.
 Multiple citizenship, previously prohibited under the 1997 constitution (abrogated
April 2009), has been permitted since the April 2009 Citizenship Decree and
established as a right under Section 5(4) of the September 2013 Constitution.
 A new constitution was put in place in 2013, leading to elections in September 2014,
which were won by Bainimarama and his FijiFirst Party.

2014 General Elections

 First election to be held under the new constitution (which lowered the voting age to
18 and gave the right of multiple citizenship to Fijians for the first time) were held in
Fiji on 17 September 2014 to select the 50 members of Parliament.
 The FijiFirst party led by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama won a landslide victory,
winning 32 of the 50 seats.
 The Social Democratic Liberal Party and the National Federation Party were the only
other two parties to cross the 5% electoral threshold and win seats.
 The elections were held using the open list form of party-list proportional
representation in one nationwide constituency consisting of 50 seats. There is a
threshold of 5% of the vote for a list to gain representation.
2018 General Elections
 General elections were held in Fiji on 14 November 2018.
 The result was a victory for the ruling FijiFirst party of Prime Minister Frank
Bainimarama, which received just over 50% of the vote and 27 of the 51 seats in
Parliament, a loss of five seats from the 2014 election.
 The main opposition party, Social Democratic Liberal Party, gained six seats, whilst
the National Federation Party retained its three seats.
 The elections also saw female representation in Parliament rise to nearly 20 percent,
with 10 of the 51 members being women.
 The 51 members of Parliament were elected from a single nationwide constituency by
open list proportional representation with an electoral threshold of 5%.
 Prior to the election the Electoral Commission increased the number of seats from 50
to 51 in accordance with section 54 of the Fiji constitution to maintain the ratio of
population to seats, to account for the increase in population.

2022 General Elections

 General elections were held in Fiji on 14 December 2022 to elect the 55 members of
Parliament (an increase of four seats from the 2018 elections)
 Of the nine parties that contested the election, four passed the 5% threshold needed to
enter parliament, but no party won a majority.
 FijiFirst won a plurality, securing 26 seats. The newly formed People's Alliance (PA)
secured 21 seats, while its coalition partner, the National Federation Party (NFP), won
five.
 The Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), which placed second in the 2018
election, retained three seats.
 Negotiations to form a government began following the election, with FijiFirst and
the PA-NFP coalition seeking to win over the kingmaker SODELPA.
 After several days, on 20 December, SODELPA's management board voted to form a
coalition government with the People's Alliance and the NFP, ending the FijiFirst
government's eight-year rule and Bainimarama's 16-year tenure as prime minister.
 Members of the Parliament of Fiji are elected from a single nationwide constituency
by open list proportional representation with an electoral threshold of 5%.