 |
|---|
By-elections for the nine Indo-Fijian seats in the Legislative Council were held in Fiji between 31 August and 7 September 1968. [1] The seats had previously been held by the Federation Party, but their members had resigned in protest at the introduction of ministerial government and failure to reform the electoral system.
In the 1966 elections, the multiracial Alliance Party won 23 seats (all nine Fijian seats, all nine cross-voting seats, and five of the seven general seats) and the Indo-Fijian dominated Federation Party 9 (all of which were Indo-Fijian seats), with independents winning the remaining two. Following the elections, a ministerial system of government was introduced, with Kamisese Mara of the Alliance Party as Chief Minister. Federation Party leader A. D. Patel became Leader of the Opposition.
Under the previous membership system, Patel had held a portfolio. However, under the new system, the government was able to make unilateral decisions. When the Government made no effort to reform Fiji's electoral system, Patel moved a motion on 1 September 1967, calling for a new constitutional conference. When it became clear that the Government would use its majority to vote down the motion, the Federation members walked out of the Legislative Council.
After the nine Federation Party members missed three consecutive sittings of the Legislative Council, their seats were declared vacant and new elections called.
A total of 18 candidates contested the nine seats. The Alliance Party and the Federation Party putting forward a full slate of nine, [1] with no independents or other parties running. In the 1966 elections the Alliance had only contested three of the nine seats. [2]
All but one of the incumbent Federation Party MPs stood for the party again; the exception was M. T. Khan, who switched to the Alliance. He was replaced as the Federation Party candidate by Ujagar Singh, a teacher. Most of the Federation Party candidates were well-known and respected within the Indo-Fijian community. [2] The Federation Party platform called for immediate independence (as a republic with an ethnic Fijian as president), a common roll electoral system, a bill of rights, the introduction of free education, free healthcare, a minimum wage, pensions and unemployment benefits, as well as nationalising key industries and providing subsidies for food. [2] [1]
In addition to Khan, the Alliance candidates consisted of three lawyers, three teachers, a businessman and a travel agent. None of them had run in the 1966 elections and there was little respect for most of them from much of the Indo-Fijian population. [2] Patel accused the Alliance of being "white colonialist dominated" and party spokesmen referred to Alliance candidates stooges for foreign companies. [2] The Alliance campaign included a continued move towards self-government, move devolved decision making and better roads and communications. [2]
The Federation Party candidates won all nine seats, with an increased majority in every one, whilst the Alliance candidates lost their deposits in two seats. [2] Across the nine seats, the Federation Party received 46,960 votes (78.5%) and the Alliance Party 12,826 (21.5%). [3] Voter turnout was 81%, a decrease from the turnout in the constituencies in the 1966 elections. [2]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federation Party | 46,960 | 78.55 | 9 | |
| Alliance Party | 12,826 | 21.45 | 0 | |
| Total | 59,786 | 100.00 | 9 | |
| Valid votes | 59,786 | 97.71 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,399 | 2.29 | ||
| Total votes | 61,185 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 75,973 | 80.54 | ||
| Source: Anthony [2] | ||||
| Constituency | Candidate | Party | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-East Vanua Levu | James Madhavan | Federation Party | 5,870 |
| Albert Jayant | Alliance Party | 1,075 | |
| North-East Viti Levu | C. A. Shah | Federation Party | 4,441 |
| M. T. Khan | Alliance Party | 1,777 | |
| North Eastern | Ram Jati Singh | Federation Party | 2,676 |
| R. D. Mishra | Alliance Party | 455 | |
| North-West Viti Levu | R. D. Patel | Federation Party | 5,561 |
| K. N. Govind | Alliance Party | 3,223 | |
| South-Central Viti Levu | Ujagar Singh | Federation Party | 4,878 |
| A. G. Prasad | Alliance Party | 502 | |
| South-West Viti Levu | A. D. Patel | Federation Party | 7,903 |
| Manikam Pillai | Alliance Party | 2,772 | |
| Suva | Irene Jai Narayan | Federation Party | 5,808 |
| P. K. Bhindi | Alliance Party | 892 | |
| Tailevu–Rewa | K. C. Ramrakha | Federation Party | 3,718 |
| M. Y. Khan | Alliance Party | 396 | |
| West Viti Levu | Sidiq Koya | Federation Party | 6,105 |
| Suakat Ali Sahib | Alliance Party | 1,734 |
Although the victory proved the support for the Federation Party within the Info-Fijian community, it also exacerbated ethnic tensions. Following the elections, ethnic Fijians rioted (with 21 arrested and charged in one area) and mass meetings were held in several locations at which calls were made for Indo-Fijians to be deported. [2]
The Fiji Labour Party (FLP), also known as Fiji Labour, is a political party in Fiji. Most of its support is from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. The party has been elected to power twice, with Timoci Bavadra and Mahendra Chaudhry becoming prime minister in 1987 and 1999 respectively. On both occasions, the resulting government was rapidly overthrown by a coup.
The Alliance Party, was the ruling political party in Fiji from 1966 to 1987. Founded in the early 1960s, its leader was Kamisese Mara, the founding father of the modern Fijian nation. Widely seen as the political vehicle of the traditional Fijian chiefs, the Alliance Party also commanded considerable support among the Europeans and other ethnic minorities, who, although comprising only 3–4% of Fiji's population, were over represented in the parliament. Indo-Fijians were less supportive, but the Fijian-European block vote kept the Alliance Party in power for more than twenty years.
Irene Jai Narayan was an Indian-born teacher and politician, who had a significant influence on politics in Fiji. She came to Fiji in 1959 after marrying Jai Narayan, a well known school Principal in Suva, and began her career as a teacher. She taught in DAV Girls School and MGM High School in Suva before entering politics.
Siddiq Moidin Koya was a Fijian Indian politician, Statesman and Opposition leader. He succeeded to the leadership of the mostly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party (NFP) on the death of the party's founder, A. D. Patel, in October 1969, remaining in this post until 1977. He later served a second term as leader of the NFP, from 1984 to 1987.
Since becoming independent of the United Kingdom in 1970, Fiji has had four constitutions, and the voting system has changed accordingly.
General elections were held in Fiji between 15 and 29 April 1972, the first since independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. They were characterised by the lack of rancour between racial groups, typical of the 1966 general election and the 1968 by-elections.
General elections were held in Fiji between 10 and 17 July 1982. The paradoxical results were both a triumph and a setback for the Alliance Party of the Prime Minister, Kamisese Mara. The Alliance received 52% of the popular vote, only slightly down on its previous total, but won only 28 seats, eight fewer than in the previous elections of September 1977. Part of the reason for this discrepancy was that the slight surge in support for Mara's Alliance in the Indo-Fijian community, from 14 percent to 16 percent, was not sufficient to translate into seats in Fiji's communal electoral system, and did not therefore off-set losses among the ethnic Fijian community, particularly in the west of the country. The Western United Front of Osea Gavidi won only two seats, but split the vote, allowing the National Federation Party (NFP), with which it tactically allied itself, to gain seven seats for a total of 22. The NFP, which had split into two factions before the previous elections, had been reunited.
The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party. Though it claimed to represent all Fiji Islanders, it was supported, in practice, almost exclusively by Indo-Fijians whose ancestors had come to Fiji between 1879 and 1916, mostly as indentured labourers. However, in the 2018 general election, the party recorded a considerable change in its support base due to the inclusion of more indigenous Fijian candidates.
Ambalal Dahyabhai Patel, better known as A.D. Patel, was an Indo-Fijian politician, farmers' leader and founder and leader of the National Federation Party. Patel was uncompromisingly committed to a vision of an independent Fiji, with full racial integration. He was one of the first to advocate a republic, an ideal not realized in his lifetime. He also advocated a common voters' roll and opposed the communal franchise that characterized Fijian politics.
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.
Communal constituencies were the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General electors vote for a candidate of their own respective ethnic groups, in constituencies that have been reserved by ethnicity. Other methods of choosing parliamentarians came and went, but this feature was a constant until their final abolition in the 2013 Constitution.
National constituencies were a former feature of the Fijian electoral system. They were created as a compromise between demands for universal suffrage on a common voters' roll, and for a strictly communal franchise, with Parliamentary constituencies allocated on an ethnic basis and elected only by voters enrolled as members of specific ethnic groups.
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.
The Federation Party was Fiji's first formal political party. The Citizens Federation, which had won three of the four seats reserved for Indo-Fijians at the 1963 elections, decided to formalize its role as a political party, which was officially founded on 21 June 1964 with A. D. Patel as President and Sidiq Koya as Vice-President. The merger took place in time for the party to participate in the 1965 constitutional conference which was called to map out a path towards independence from the United Kingdom. In 1968, the Federation Party merged with the National Democratic Party to form the National Federation Party, which is now (2021) the oldest political party in Fiji still in existence.
Karam Chand Ramrakha was a former Fiji Indian lawyer, union leader and politician, who served in colonial Fiji's Legislative Council and independent Fiji's House of Representatives from 1966 to 1982.
The number of Fiji Indians that could be elected to the Legislative Council was fixed over the years as follows:
Mohammed Taiyab Khan was an Indo-Fijian politician and lawyer. Between 1966 and 1977 he served as a member of the Legislative Council, Senate and House of Representatives. He was also Minister for Commerce, Industries and Co-operatives from 1972 to 1976.
Chirag Ali Shah was an Indo-Fijian farmer and politician. He was a member of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives from 1963 to 1977.
