Fijian general election, 1999

General elections were held in Fiji between 8 and 15 May 1999.^[1] They were the first election held under the revised Constitution of 1997, which instituted a new electoral system and resulted in Mahendra Chaudhry taking office as Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.

Electoral system

Previously, all seats in the Fijian House of Representatives had been allocated on an ethnic basis, with the numbers deliberately skewed in favour of ethnic Fijians. In the 1990s, negotiations among Fiji's political and ethnic factions had led to an agreement to create 25 "open electorates," with Representatives of any race to be elected by universal suffrage; a further 46 Representatives would continue to represent ethnic communities and be elected from separate electoral rolls (23 ethnic Fijians, 19 Indo-Fijians, 1 Rotuman Islander, with an additional three "general electorates" to represent Fiji's minority communities, including Europeans, Chinese, and Banaban Islanders).

Results

Mahendra Chaudhry's Fiji Labour Party won all 19 Indo-Fijian seats, annihilating the National Federation Party which had traditionally been Fiji's dominant Indo-Fijian party; Indo-Fijian voters were angered by the NFP's decision to enter into an electoral coalition agreement with the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, whom they had not forgiven for leading the military coup that removed an Indo-Fijian dominated government from power in 1987. In addition to the 19 Indo-Fijian seats, the Labour Party won 18 of the 25 "open electorates" for a total of 37 - an absolute majority in the 71-member House. The Fijian Association Party, led by Adi Kuini Speed (the widow of former Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra), won 11 seats (10 ethnic Fijian and 1 open) against only 8 seats (5 ethnic Fijian and 3 open) for the Fijian Political Party, which had ruled the country since 1992. The Christian Democratic Alliance won 3 seats (2 ethnic Fijian and one open), while Apisai Tora's Party of National Unity won four ethnic Fijian seats. The United General Party won one "general" and one open electorate. The remaining six seats (two ethnic Fijian, two "general electorates," one Rotuman, and one open) were won by minor parties and independents.

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/-
Fiji Labour Party	231,946	32.2	37	+30
Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei	143,177	19.9	8	-24
National Federation Party	104,985	14.6	0	-20
Fijian Association Party	72,907	10.1	10	+5
Christian Democratic Alliance	70,153	9.7	3	New
Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party	31,587	4.4	2	New
Party of National Unity	28,874	4.0	4	New
United General Party	10,144	1.4	2	New
United National Labour Party	3,963	0.6	0	New
Coalition of Independent Nationals	2,405	0.3	0	New
Lio 'On Famör Rotuma Party	1,982	0.3	0	New
Party of the Truth	234	0.0	0	New
Farmers and General Workers Coalition Party	197	0.0	0	New
Viti Levu Dynamic Multiracial Democratic Party	124	0.0	0	New
Natural Law Party	109	0.0	0	New
Nationalist Democratic Party	13	0.0	0	New
Independents	17,382	2.4	5	+4
Invalid/blank votes	39,567	-	-	-
Total	399,759	100	71	+1
Source: Nohlen et al.

Aftermath

Many ethnic Fijians were unwilling to accept the result of the election, which was partly because their own votes had been so fragmented while those of Indo-Fijians had been much more united. President and "father of the nation" Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara worked behind the scenes, however, to persuade the main ethnic Fijian parties in parliament to accept Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry as Prime Minister. To appease ethnic Fijians, Chaudhry gave 11 of the 18 Cabinet posts to native Fijian politicians. Following the power-sharing provisions of the Constitution, the Cabinet was composed of members of numerous political parties.

Not all ethnic Fijians were appeased, however. Simmering resentment exploded on 19 May 2000, when George Speight stormed the parliament buildings and kidnapped most members of the government, including Chaudhry in a coup.

References

1. Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p653 ISBN 0-19-924959-8

External links

• Constituency results on Adam Carr's electoral archive