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General elections were held in Fiji on 31 August 1932, [1] although only one of the nine elected seats was contested.
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General elections were held in Fiji on 31 August 1932, [1] although only one of the nine elected seats was contested.
The Legislative Council consisted of thirteen appointed Civil Servants, nine elected members (six Europeans and three Indo-Fijians) and three Fijians appointed from a list of between four and six potential candidates presented to the Governor by the Great Council of Chiefs. The Governor also sat in the Council as its President. [2]
Voting for Europeans was restricted to men aged 21 or over who had been born to European parents (or a European father and was able to read, speak and write English), who were British subjects and had been continuously resident in Fiji for 12 months, and who either owned at least £20 of freehold or leasehold property or had an annual income of at least £120. [2] A total of 1,533 Europeans (127 in Eastern, 259 in Northern, 750 in Suva, 254 in Vanua Levu & Taveuni and 143 in Western) were registered to vote. [3]
For Indo-Fijians, eligibility was also restricted to men aged 21 or over. They had to be a British subject or from British India, have lived continuously in the Fiji for at least two years, be able to read or write in English, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Urdu, and for the previous six months, have either owned property with an annual value of five years, had a net annual cash income of at least £75, or held a Government or municipal licence worth at least £5 annually. [2] A total of 1,585 Indo-Fijians (140 in Eastern, 669 in Northern & Western and 776 in Southern) were enrolled. [4]
In both ethnic categories, civil servants were barred from voting. [2]
Between the 1929 elections and the 1932 elections, the leader of the Indo-Fijian community Vishnu Deo had been convicted of an offence and was barred from running for election. [5] The community decided to nominate only two candidates for the three seats, with no-one running in the Eastern Division. [5]
In the European seats, the only candidates were the sitting Council members, resulting in all six being returned unopposed. [5]
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| European members | ||||
| Eastern | John Maynard Hedstrom | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| Northern | Hugh Ragg | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| Southern | Henry Milne Scott | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| Alport Barker | Unopposed | Re-elected | ||
| Vanua Levu & Taveuni | William Edmund Willoughby-Tottenham | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| Western | John Percy Bayly | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| Indo-Fijian members | ||||
| Eastern | No nominations received | |||
| Northern and Western | Muniswamy Mudaliar | Unopposed | Elected | |
| Southern | K. B. Singh | 341 | 78.8 | Elected |
| Narbahadur Singh | 92 | 21.2 | ||
| Informal | 38 | – | ||
| Source: Ali | ||||
| Role | Member |
|---|---|
| Governor | Murchison Fletcher (until May 1936), Arthur Richards (from November 1936) |
| Attorney-General | Ransley Thacker (from March 1934) |
| Colonial Secretary | Cecil Barton (from December 1936) |
| Commissioner of Lands | Frederick Raymond Charlton (from October 1935) |
| Comptroller of Customs | John Murchie Wilson |
| Director of Agriculture | Henry Walter Jack |
| Director of Education | James Russell (from September 1934) |
| Director of Medical Services | Alexander Hugh Blaxell Pearce |
| Director of Public Works | W. Wise |
| Inspector-General of Constabulary | J.S. Gamble |
| Postmaster-General | P.F. Boyd (until July 1936), William Frederick Hayward (from October 1936) |
| Secretary for Indian Affairs | Victor William Tighe McGusty (from June 1936) |
| Secretary for Native Affairs | Hugh Claud Monckton |
| Treasurer | John Craig |
| Fijian members | Lala Sukuna |
| Deve Toganivalu | |
| Popi Seniloli | |
| Source: Fiji Blue Book for the Year 1936 | |
After the Legislative Council was opened, the Indo-Fijian members put forward another proposal for a common roll. It had been planned that both elected members would resign after the proposal was rejected, but Northern and Western member Muniswamy Mudaliar refused to give up his seat. Southern Division member K. B. Singh did resign and was re-elected in a by-election the following year, winning by a larger margin. [5] The by-election was boycotted by the Muslim community, who were demanding their own reserved seat. [6]
| 1933 Southern Division by-election | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| K. B. Singh | 382 | 93.9 |
| Narbahadur Singh | 25 | 6.1 |
| Informal votes | 31 | – |
| Total | 438 | 100 |
| Source: Ali | ||
General elections were held in Fiji between 26 September and 8 October 1966, the last before independence in 1970 and the first held under universal suffrage. The result was a victory for the Alliance Party, which won 23 of the 34 elected seats. Its leader Kamisese Mara became the country's first Chief Minister the following year.
Kunwar Bachint Singh was an Indo-Fijian teacher and politician. He arrived in Fiji in 1927 as a teacher for the Arya Samaj but his association with Vishnu Deo led him to play an active role in aggressively promoting the Arya Samaj and finally into politics. He was elected into the Legislative Council as a protégé of Vishnu Deo but after the election took an independent stance opposed to the wishes of the majority of the Indo-Fijians. He supported nominated rather than elected representation, actively supported the war effort and even attempted to set up a farmers union opposed to a number of existing unions. The Government rewarded him for his loyalty by nominating him into the Legislative Council three times, appointing him as a Justice of the Peace and as the first Indo-Fijian member of the Executive Council.
General elections were held in Fiji between 17 April and 4 May 1963. For the first time, women and indigenous Fijians were given the right to vote alongside the male European and Indo-Fijian population.
Andrew Indar Narayan Deoki was an Indo-Fijian statesman who served his community as a social and religious leader, soccer administrator, member of the Legislative Council and Senate in independent Fiji and as Attorney General.
Muniswamy Mudaliar was an Indo-Fijian politician who was a member of the Legislative Council from 1932 to 1937. In 1933 he became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Justice of the Peace.
General elections were held in Fiji on 22 March and 8 April 1905.
General elections were held in Fiji in June and July 1917.
General elections were held in Fiji in July, August and September 1920.
General elections were held in Fiji in 1923.
General elections were held in Fiji in 1926.
General elections were held in Fiji in 1929. They were the first in which Indo-Fijians were allowed to vote.
General elections were held in Fiji in July 1937, the first in which an equal number of Europeans and Indo-Fijians were elected.
General elections were held in Fiji on 20 July 1940.
General elections were held in Fiji on 29 July 1944. The term of the Legislative Council elected in 1940 was due to end in 1943, but was extended by a year by the Governor.
General elections were held in Fiji in September 1947. Voting took place in the Northern and Western and Southern constituencies on 20 September, with voting in the Eastern constituency carried out between 15 and 22 September.
General elections were held in Fiji in August 1950. Voting took place in most locations on 26 August, and in the Lau and Lomaiviti Islands between 21 and 28 August.
General elections were held in Fiji on 29 August 1953.
General elections were held in Fiji in August 1956; voting took place in the Eastern constituencies between 11 and 18 August, and on 18 August in all other constituencies.
General elections were held in Fiji in September 1959, the last in which women and ethnic Fijians were still barred from voting. Voting took place in the Eastern constituencies between 5 and 12 September, and in the Northern and Western and Southern constituencies on 12 September.
General elections were held in Western Samoa on 1 November 1935.
