Asia-Pacific Network: 17 May 1999
POLITICS: FIJI'S ERA OF SOCIAL CHANGE SWEEPS LABOUR TO VICTORY
Labour, the key partner in Fiji's multiracial coalition government deposed at gunpoint by the Rabuka-led coup plotters almost 12 years ago to the day, has astutely pitched its campaign to the national mood for change to head for a landslide win. The victory is seen by many as the "politics of revenge", but is also seen as a reflection of constructive social policies.
By DAVID ROBIE in Suva
Daily Post: Rabuka names five 'responsible' for the coups
May 18 UPDATE: Labour has endorsed leader Mahendra Chaudhry for Prime Minister with Adi Kuini Speed (Fijian Association Party leader) as first Deputy Prime Minister and Professor Tupeni Baba (Fiji Labour Party) as second Deputy Prime Minister.
The final state of the parties in the 71-seat Parliament:
BOLDLY championing a better deal for the poor, the Fiji Labour Party is poised to lead the Fiji Islands into a new era of political and social change after its dramatic gains in the general election. Pundits are already explaining the collapse of the Rabuka government's majority as the "politics of revenge".
The party which campaigned on no compromises with coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka and opposition to the government's privatisation policies, has won all Indian communal seats in the northern and western divisions and is likely to win most of the open seats.
Its rival opposition National Federation Party, which had forged an unpopular coalition partnership with Rabuka's Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (Fijian Party) before the election, was routed.
Prime Minister Rabuka had gambled on a commitment to a multiracial and powersharing government but his party also suffered heavily at the polls.
At least five government ministers have lost their seats, including Attorney-General Ratu Etuate Tavai, and two others are fighting for political survival. Three assistant ministers, among them Assistant Information Minister Ratu Josefa Dimuri, were also defeated.
On Tuesday (May 18), official tallies from the Elections Office indicated Labour (FLP) had won 34 seats in the 71-seat Parliament and its "people's coalition" allies, the Fijian Association Party, had won 10, and the western-based Party of National Unity, three. Rabuka's SVT had won eight seats and its minor partner, the mixed race United General Party, one.
A jubilant Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhry expects to have a coalition total of 48 seats and said he was ready to become prime minister - the first Indo-Fijian to take this position in Fiji's history.
"It's the Labour Party which has the majority in this election and that's what democracy is all about," he said.
"The people have given their mandate and that mandate must be respected. I'm humbled by the show of support actually."
Labour's core constituency is the workers, the cane farmers, the poor and the deprived.
Conceding defeat, Rabuka warned Fijians against agitation.
"Why should we agitate? We brought this defeat upon ourselves. We are so splintered. Why should we do anything now?" he said.
Labour's Professor Tupeni Baba, of the University of the South Pacific, a probable contender along with trade unionist Chaudhry for the prime ministership, pledged there would be no Labour deals with Rabuka.
Labour, the key partner in the multiracial coalition government deposed at gunpoint by the Rabuka-led coup plotters almost 12 years ago to the day, astutely pitched its campaign to the national mood for change.
Both Chaudhry and Prof Baba were ministers among those arrested by the military on 14 May 1987. The widow of the late prime minister of the deposed government, Dr Timoci Bavadra, Adi Kuini Speed, has also been elected to Parliament as leader of the Fijian Association Party.
Labour has pledged to remove an unpopular value added tax and is also committed to a social welfare system for the poor and better education for all.
Although Rabuka himself and his architect of privatisation, Finance Minister Jim Ah Koy, have survived with convincing wins in their own electorates, commentators see the heavy defeats for both the SVT and the NFP as the result of "vengeful" politics.
Although Rabuka apologised for the bloodless coups during an election campaign gesture, many Indo-Fijians could never forgive his act.
A lawyer who authored a book about the coups warned that Rabuka could risk prosecution over the coups if his government was ousted and he visited abroad.
Victor Lal, author of Fiji: Coups in Paradise, said the recent precedent set by the extradition case in Britain over former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet had opened the door to possible charges of treason and kidnapping against Rabuka, even though the prime minister enjoys immunity under Fiji law.
The alliance of the NFP with Rabuka's party was regarded as a sell-out by many Indo-Fijians and cost it dearly.
Labour ran full-page advertisements reminding voters that NFP leader Jai Ram Reddy had claimed before the 1994 election that multiracialism in Fiji was "wishful thinking".
"Now he says it will work with Rabuka, the coup maker who ousted a multiracial government! Reddy is as inconsistent as Rabuka!" said the Labour advertisement.
When a local radio station refused to broadcast the advertisement on legal advice, Chaudhry angrily accused news media of political bias.
Among indigenous Fijians, the rise of a conservative Christian Democratic Alliance (VLV), winning at least two seats and slashing the SVT vote in many Fijian communal electorates, has been interpreted as revenge against Rabuka, a commoner, for having undermined traditional chiefly Fijian politics.
"There is no doubt that there is a personal vendetta against Mr Rabuka," said the Daily Post, a newspaper bought by the government before the campaign but which has defiantly remained editorially independent.
"For many people the objective is to get rid of the man first and think of the rest later. Vengeful politicking results in poor governance. The motive for election victory should be better government and not revenge."
The F$6 million election - more than double the cost of the 1994 election - has been plagued by problems, prompting one columnist to brand Fiji as the "land of the long waiting queues".
Voting was made compulsory for people over the age of 21 for the first time and polling officials could not cope with the voter demand. Non voters risked a $50 fine.
Both Chaudhry and Ah Koy - who won the Kadavu Fijian communal seat with more than 84 per cent of the votes - condemned the elections organisation.
A millionaire businessman, Ah Koy called for a return to the first-past-the-post system, "but this time they have to make it compulsory."
Chaudhry called for a commission of inquiry.
"It was a complete case of administrative bungling," he said. "The system was new and the people hired to work it were not well versed with it."
The voting system was drawn up in 1997 by the joint parliamentary select committee and the Reeves Commission, headed by former New Zealand governor-general Sir Paul Reeves.
The new Parliament reserves 46 seats for ethnic communal seats - 23 indigenous Fijian, 19 Indo-Fijian, and four others. The balance of 25 seats are for open voting across the communities.
But the major features of the new constitution include government power-sharing in contrast to the post-coup constitution which was racially weighted in favour indigenous Fijians, relegating Indo-Fijians to second-class citizens.
Governing coalition:
Fiji Labour 37 seats
Fijian Association 11
Party of National Unity 4
Total: 52
Opposition parties:
Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei 7
United General Party 2
Christian Democratic Alliance 3
Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo 2
Independents 5
National Federation 0
United Labour 0
TOTAL: 19