Fiji general election - September 17 2014

[politicus]

If you are tired of those boring European elections Fiji will be holding one in two weeks to end eight years of military dictatorship. For the first time ever every adult Fijian gets a vote of equal value -  no ethnic quotas as in previous elections.

http://www.electionsfiji.gov.fj/2014-general-election/

The seven contestants are:

Fiji Labour Party is Social Democratic/Social Liberal and officially multiracial, but de facto an Indian party. They have been in power twice (1987 and 1999), but where both times ousted pretty quickly by the military.

National Federation Party is an old Indian party, now officially multiracial. Its the arch rival of FLP and since March led by Professor Biman Prasad, an economist. Its strongman is his predecessor Dorsami Naidu, former President of TIMI an organization of Dravidian Indo-Fijians. While Naidu tried to reach out to women and poor people NFP is basically an old boys club looking out for the vested interests of (parts of) the Indo-Fijian elite.

Social Democratic Liberal Party is led by Ro Teimumu Kepa, a female paramount chief, and is - despite the name - a Conservative/Christian Democratic party representing traditionalist indigenous Fijians and supported by the chiefly clans (the Ratus). It was called the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua before, but chose the new (confusing) name in order to preserve the SDL acronym, when all parties were mandated to use English names (but the government wouldn't let them, so its SODELPA!). Its the successor to the Alliance that ruled Fiji in the 60s to 80s.

People's Democratic Party was formed in 2013 by the Fiji Trades Union Congress as a workers party and is led by the former general secretary of the Fiji Sugar and General Workers Union and Fiji Trade Union Congress (FTUC)  Felix Anthony, who dropped out of the FLP because he thought it was both too moderate and corrupt. It has several prominent regime critics in its leadership.

Fiji First is the outfit of His Excellency Prime Minister and Rear Admiral  Ratu Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama, who has been PM since 2007 (following the 2006 coup) and until recently also commander of the armed forces. He has coopted many former FLP politicians and tried branding himself as a national father figure who is above the ethnic divide and has stepped up Fiji's international profile with an alternative Pacific forum and peace keeping forces abroad. He has also accepted major Chinese investments in the country (something that is far from uncontroversial, especially among ethnic Fijians). It will be interesting to see how much support Fijians will give Ratu Frankie.

One Fiji Party is a new centre-right outfit dominated by ethnic Fijians, but including some prominent Indian businessmen. They want to focus on job creation and entrepreneurship and bridge the ethnic gap by "recognizing that the security of the Fiji citizens of Indian origin and other races of different origins are tied to the stability of the indigenous population of Fiji to what they consider to be prized to them – the security of their land and their identity.”

Fiji United Freedom Party is a youth group run by an Indian guy who is currently facing charges for writing "seditious comments" on the walls of Suva and wants to "give young people a voice". Dunno anything else about them.

Fiji uses open party list PR with D'Hondt in one nationwide constituency with 50 seats using a 5% threshold for a list to gain representation.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I predict that the eventual winner will be toppled in a coup.

[politicus]

I predict that the eventual winner will be toppled in a coup.

Not if Ratu Frankie wins and according to the latest poll I could find he has 56% support.

[politicus]

Early voting started today among the 66,000 voters who will cast their votes early because they live in remote areas or are army/police, they make up more than 10 percent of Fiji's registered voters.

Voting is taking place at schools, community halls and village sheds on Fiji's two main islands and in the west of the country.

Voting in the eastern islands begins tomorrow.

Hopefully we will get some exit polls.

EDIT: We wont because the government has banned them (which the opposition, of course, claims is done to make it easier to cheat on the vote counting).

[politicus]

Fiji First candidate selection proces:



How the opposition views Fiji First:



How critics view SODELPA:

[politicus]

The kidnapping of 45 Fijian soldiers from a UN peace keeping operation in the Golan Heights on the Israeli/Syrian border by (presumably) radical Islamist Al Nusra fighters keeps haunting the government. Apparently the soldiers were told not to fight by someone high up in the army hierarchy, who claimed they would be transferred to a safe area by the Syrians. This has been adamantly denied by the government. SODELPA also claims that the soldiers appeal for IDF assistance was denied because of the government establishing friendly relations with Iran, which has strained Fiji's credit in Israel. All pretty murky.

Opposition point of view on http://www.coupfourandahalf.com/

EDIT: Ratu Frankie's right hand man is Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (see the first cartoon) a lawyer from a prominent Muslim Indo-Fijian family. He is no less than Fiji's Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Anti-Corruption, Elections, Public Enterprises, Industry, Trade, Investment, Tourism and Communications! He is also highly corrupt and vilified by many indigenous Fijians, who see him as the puppet master behind the regime.



He has been influential in improving Fiji's relations with Muslim countries, while traditionalist Fijians as fundamentalist Christians are pro-Israel (if they have an opinion on the subject).

[Vega]

Interesting. It's kinda interesting how, at least from what I can tell as a foreigner, Fiji has done okay under a Military Dictatorship.

Anyway, it's always good to have democracy, and I hope the best party wins. I guess I'll root for the National Federation Party, because they seem to be the best to deal with the military.

[politicus]

Interesting. It's kinda interesting how, at least from what I can tell as a foreigner, Fiji has done okay under a Military Dictatorship.

Anyway, it's always good to have democracy, and I hope the best party wins. I guess I'll root for the National Federation Party, because they seem to be the best to deal with the military.

Some people have done fine, others have lost their land to speculators or their jobs and businesses to well connected immigrants or regime supporters. Also the prospect of Fiji turning into a Chinese client is far from unproblematic.

As you can see from my write-up, I am no fan of the NFP. It stands for nothing and is basically just a tool for parts of the Indian elite. The other Indian party, FLP, is at least vaguely progressive and after the worst corrupt scumbags have deserted to Fiji First its the lesser evil of the Indo-Fijian ethnic parties. Note that only 38% of Fijians are of Indian descent nowadays following a massive exodus since the 1987 coup. So from being a majority in the past, they are clearly outnumbered by the 54% Melanesians.

I personally hope for a good election for the two biracial and more ideologically based opposition parties One Fiji and PDP as a break with ethnic poitics would be a huge benefit and they both seem to contain talented people. While conservative, Christian ethno-nationalists are bound to be unpopular in the West, I also hope for a good SODELPA result as they are the only opposition  party strong enough to counter Fiji First and will protect the land rights of villagers from developers and speculators.

Thirdly, I hope Fiji First doesn't get an outright majority. Some sort of power sharing would be good and might prevent some of the worst excesses of land grabs, human rights violations and corruption.

[politicus]

Some criticism of the fairness of this election:

- Election organisers have printed 700,000 ballot papers even though there are just 590,000 registered voters. Chief elections supervisor Mohammed Saneem claims that the spare copies were printed "in case people made a mistake" (such as voting for the opposition, presumably..)

- The ballot paper does not have party names or logos but just a grid with 249 different numbers, one for each candidate. Voters will have to look through the list of candidates and are expected to remember the number of the candidate they wish to vote for. Giving a huge advantage to parties with plenty of media access to spread the numbers of their candidates - ie Fiji First. Workers at polling stations could also "guide" people to vote for their own preferred candidate's number.

- Despite thousands of Fiji nationals in New Zealand and Australia being eligible to vote few have registered, because they only found out recently that they had to apply to the electoral commission for the right to vote.

- Section 115 of the electoral decree prevents NGO's  from "influencing voters" - ie educating them about the election or telling them to vote for people who promote human rights.

- The government is using lots of public funds to campaign for Fiji First.

- There is a a reporting ban two days before the election, so any kind of irregularities can not be covered by the Fiji media.

[Vega]

So this is basically a "let the military pick the winner!" election?

Disgusting.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's Fiji, that's how things work there.

[politicus]

So this is basically a "let the military pick the winner!" election?

Disgusting.

They will be under intense international scrutiny from especially Australia and NZ (who sends a former Deputy Prime Minister among its observers) and they have an interest in making the result look legit. So there is a limit to how far they can go. But they have rigged the process in various ways and especially this bizarre number system,  that's basically designed to trick elderly and/or poorly educated villagers into not voting for SODELPA will have an effect. A timid press, that's reluctant to criticize the government adds to the mess. So while it may be a free election its not going to be fair.

[Famous Mortimer]

"Despite thousands of Fiji nationals in New Zealand and Australia being eligible to vote few have registered, because they only found out recently that they had to apply to the electoral commission for the right to vote."

Wouldn't these be mostly Indian?

[politicus]

"Despite thousands of Fiji nationals in New Zealand and Australia being eligible to vote few have registered, because they only found out recently that they had to apply to the electoral commission for the right to vote."

Wouldn't these be mostly Indian?

In Australia it would be 73.000 Indo-Fijian vs. 24.000 Fijians (2011 numbers). But I don't know how many of those would have Fijian citizenship.

7.000 Fijians in NZ in 2001. They didn't use a separate category for Indo-Fijians, so they were just lumped in with (other) Indians.

[politicus]

The leader of the 1987 coup former Major General Stiveni Rabuka is now under police investigation after he said to a New Zealand radio station that  Fiji's Muslim community could face a serious backlash if the peacekeepers who are abducted in Syria were harmed by their captors from al-Nusra.

Fiji's military commander Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga says the comments are very disappointing from a former Prime Minister and could be "tantamount to inciting violence."

Rabuka stands by his comments and says he was just pointing out something that could potentially happen.

Since Indo-Fijian Muslims are an important part of the coalition behind Fiji First and Rabuka is the grey eminence of SODELPA it could lead to nasty stuff if Rabuka is actually jailed for this. But given the unpopularity of Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum among ethnic Fijians anti-Muslim riots is something the government fears if anything happens to the abducted soldiers, so Rabuka's comments must have been a major provocation.

[Famous Mortimer]

Tell me if my impression is right.

Before the 1987 coup, Fiji was ruled by the Alliance, a conservative, mostly ethnic Fijian but not extremely racist party.

In the first elections after the 1987 coup, a new party called the Fijian Political Party came to power. This was a party made up of the coup leaders. As such, it actually was kinda racist.

After the failed 2000 coup, the SDL was founded. It was basically a resurrection of the Alliance and was supposed to be a moderate Fijian party. It largely came to replace the Fijian Political Party and then became increasingly conservative, culminating in the attempt to pardon the 2000 coup leaders, which led to the Bananarama coup in 2006.

Is that right?

Additionally, what I find weird, Bananarama seems to embracing a lot of former Fijian Political Party members, members of the 1987 coup party. Fiji First doesn't have former coup leader/PM Rabuka but it does have his successor Inoke Kubuabola and Foreign Minister Filipe Bole.

[politicus]

Tell me if my impression is right.

Before the 1987 coup, Fiji was ruled by the Alliance, a conservative, mostly ethnic Fijian but not extremely racist party.

In the first elections after the 1987 coup, a new party called the Fijian Political Party came to power. This was a party made up of the coup leaders. As such, it actually was kinda racist.

After the failed 2000 coup, the SDL was founded. It was basically a resurrection of the Alliance and was supposed to be a moderate Fijian party. It largely came to replace the Fijian Political Party and then became increasingly conservative, culminating in the attempt to pardon the 2000 coup leaders, which led to the Bananarama coup in 2006.

Is that right?

Yes, apart from Bananarama being some English pop chicks from the 80s, but I dunno if that was a deliberate joke

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There are some strange bedfellows in Fiji First. They are united in a desire to modernize the country and get rich in the process.
Well, thats the cynical version. Some, like Bole, are just moderates who were never hardcore ethno-nationalists. He left the FPP in 2002 and founded his own Christian Democratic/Centrist party (even including some Labourites).

Other FPP figures, like Rabuka, have remained ideologically committed to ethno-nationalism and Fijian kastom (tradition, custom and way of life) and are SODELPA supporters.

EDIT: Clan ties, personal rivalries and island/regional loyalty naturally also plays a role.

Bananarama:



Bainimarama:

[Simfan34]

Whoever puts the Queen (and the Great Council of Chiefs, by extension) back in place has my vote. I'm guessing that would be the Social Democratic Liberal Party. Apparently Bainimarama tried to take her off the currency (which she was still on), and the resultant uproar meant the plans had to be shelved. I think.

[Joe Republic]

You mean to tell me that the Minister for Anti-Corruption is also hopelessly corrupt?  What kind of banana republic is this?!

[politicus]

You mean to tell me that the Minister for Anti-Corruption is also hopelessly corrupt? What kind of banana republic is this?!

It's Fiji, that's how things work there.

They do love their bananas.

[politicus]

To quote a 2013 Transparency International report on corruption in Fiji:

"Fiji is situated below the global average in terms of its performance on international corruption measurement indicators and performs poorly in terms of the rule of law.
Like many Pacific Island Countries, political corruption and nepotism stand out as the main corruption risks in Fiji, whereas citizens’ experience of bribery is low.

The interim government that took power in the 2006 coup used the anti-corruption discourse, together with the defence of multiracialism, to legitimise overthrowing the elected government. It has since systematically weakened the country's democratic institutions, reduced civil society space, and silenced opponents and the media."

That's the context this election should be viewed in.

[Joe Republic]

In hindsight, my previous post did not come across as cynically sarcastic as originally intended.

[politicus]

In hindsight, my previous post did not come across as cynically sarcastic as originally intended.

It did, but after having tried in vain to come up with a funny comeback I just decided to ignore the sarcasm and use it as a pretense to post some info about corruption in Fiji.

And actually Melanesian societies are generally closer to being banana republics in the original sense, than Central American countries are today.

[politicus]

With 8 days to go before the election the big joker is still the handling of Fiji's 45 captured  peacekeepers who were taken hostage after they gave up their weapons to Al Nusra, which last week abandoned negotiations with the Fiji government because its demands weren't met.

The Fiji regime is now officially sending a delegation to New York and the Golan Heights (even if the three-member team don't even have visas to the US yet!) to put pressure on the UN to secure the release of the troops.

Meanwhile army commander Mosese Tikoitoga is busy dismissing reports that Al Nusra have threatened to try the Fiji peacekeepers by Sharia law claiming there is an agreement in place that if the soldiers are tried they will be tried in a Fiji court and under Fiji laws. Which sounds pretty incredible, to say the least.

Meanwhile the countrys government loyal media are currently focused on painting SODELPAs female leader, paramount chief Ro Teimumu Kepa, as being 'afraid' to debate Frank Bainimarama.

Opposition blogs complain that there is no coverage of the voters who were turned away from pre-polling at Yasawa Community Hall, Taci Community Hall and Malolo district school (all in SODELPA strongholds) because there weren’t enough envelopes!

Fiji First supporters also run (or ran - not sure if its still up) a fake Facebook profile aimed at undermining chief Kepa and there is a lot of threats from government loyal bloggers against opposition activists and a direct threat to arrest opposition leader and Prime Minister 2000-2006 Laisenia Qarase.

[politicus]

In the FLP the bitter fight between its former legal advisor Rajendra Chaudhry and his father FLP boss and former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry continues.
Rajendra has been in self imposed exile in Australia since 2012 and recently his Facebook page has been filled with strong criticism of the FLP for corruption and immorality. He's questioned party candidates Dr. Rohit Kishore, Rajen Singh and FLP stalwart and heavyweight Arvin Datt. Among other things criticising Kishore for publishing porn.  

Chaudhry senior has brushed aside the matter saying personal matters have no place in party affairs and that he doesn't get involved with social media and personal differences.

Speaking on Fiji TV’s talk back show ‘Outside the Box’ Dr. Kishore said Rajendra’s comments are personally motivated because Rajendra wanted to come and contest the elections and wasn't allowed to because of rape charges against him and that his dad told him to stay away.

According to Fiji media there are no rape charges against Rajendra since the charges were dropped after the complainant withdrew her complaint. So technically he could have ran. But presumably senior thought it was bad for the party brand to have his rape accused son running.

Rajendra claims he never intended to contest under the FLP banner and his political aspirations haven't yet materialised (probably meaning he is contemplating starting his own party).

He claims his criticism of the FLP isn't personally motivated, but are made to ensure transparency and fight corruption.