Outside the South Pacific, Fiji, an island nation of around 1 million people, is seen as a remote vacation idyll: frangipani flowers, golden beaches, cobalt-colored seas. But within the region, it is a critical player with a major economy and a strong military. Among its neighbors, it tends to set the tone for human rights and democratic freedoms, which have been threatened in recent years.
It is also a country where seemingly peaceful politics can quickly degenerate. He experienced four coups between 1987 and 2006. Rabuka originally seized power in the first coup and Bainimarama in the last.
Now outgoing Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama casts his ballot in Fiji’s election in Suva last week.Credit:access point
This month’s vote was the third general election since the democratic vote was reintroduced into the constitution in 2013. Turnout this year, at just over 68 percent, was the lowest ever.
Speaking on Sunday, before the tripartite coalition was formed, Rabuka described the election results as pivotal. “For those who follow, the generations to come,” he said, “will look back on the election and say that was the turning point in the Fiji journey.”
When the final results were announced, Bainimarama’s nationalist FijiFirst party had the largest share of voters, with 26 seats in parliament out of a possible 55. Rabuka’s People’s Alliance got 21 and its ally, the National Federation Party, another five. And the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), an indigenous-led religious party, won the last three seats.
With no clear winner, it was a tight call to form a government, with the tiny SODELPA party taking the leading role.
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SODELPA’s public list of demands was considerable. In early talks, its leaders called for a deputy premiership for a party member, as well as a promise to support pro-indigenous policies, the forgiveness of some student debt and the establishment of a Fijian embassy in Jerusalem.
The People’s Alliance was founded by Rabuka last year, after he walked away from SODELPA, taking a significant part of his support with him. That story created a complicated dynamic: there was a natural partnership between the two parties, but the antagonism between Rabuka and some SODELPA members left behind continued to fester.
In the end, 16 members of the SODELPA board of directors voted in favor of a partnership with People’s Alliance and 14 with FijiFirst.
“People have chosen a new path, a new path and a new government,” said Biman Prasad, leader of the National Federation Party. He added: “A new era will begin when the new government takes power in this country.”
The choice had been complicated from the beginning.
After the first batch of votes were counted and then released hours late, the Popular Alliance party appeared to be in the lead, until the official election results app went black for hours, in what officials described as an anomaly in the vote count. When the app started working again, the leadership of the group had vanished and Bainimarama’s group was in the lead.
The Fijians quickly called foul. Five political parties, including Rabuka’s, said they would call for a recount because they had no faith in the integrity of election officials. Impartial election observers said they had not seen “significant irregularities” or any evidence of wrongdoing.
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As they prepared to challenge the election results, opposition party leaders, including Rabuka, called on the army to intervene in the elections, as is their constitutional right.
Jone Kalouniwai, the top commander, said the military would allow the electoral process to unfold. The military “will leave it in the good hands of those responsible [for] the electoral process under the 2013 constitution,” he added.
The next day, the police called Rabuka and questioned him for two hours about his activities during the week. He was eventually released without charge.
Since casting his ballot last Wednesday, Bainimarama has not spoken publicly and has yet to concede the election.