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Local elections were held in Fiji in October 2002. The results allowed the three major political parties, Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) and the National Federation Party (NFP) to claim a victory of sorts. The elections, which take place every three years, were for two city councils and ten town councils throughout Fiji.
The results showed considerable variation from one municipality to another, indicating that local rather than national issues played a prominent role in the election. The NFP, which suffered disastrous defeats in the national elections of 1999 and 2001, failing to win a single seat in the House of Representatives, remained strong at the municipal level, while the SDL and the FLP, despite their fierce and sometimes bitter rivalry in national politics, forged an alliance after the election to control the Suva City Council.
All 20 seats of the City Council 10 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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The Ratepayers Alliance, a coalition dominated by the NFP, won 8 of the 20 seats on the Suva City Council. The SDL won 7 and the FLP, 5. The Ratepayers Alliance and the SDL initially formed a coalition to reelect Chandu Umaria as Lord Mayor, but the coalition fell apart a year later when the SDL forged an alliance with the FLP to elect Ratu Peni Volavola to the office.
FLP support was concentrated in the Samabula Ward, where it won all five seats. In previous municipal election, held in 1999 the FLP had won no seats on the city council.
All 15 seats on the Town Council 8 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||
The NFP retained its hold on the Nadi Town Council, winning 10 of the 15 seats. The other 5 seats, all from the Martintar Ward, were won by the FLP, which had won no seats in 1999.
All 15 seats of the City Council 8 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||
The FLP retained control of the Lautoka City Council, winning 10 of the 15 seats. The remaining 5 seats, all from the Waiyavi Ward, were won by the SDL.
All 15 seats of the Town Council 8 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | |||||||||||
The NFP-dominated Ratepayers Alliance made a clean sweep, winning all 15 seats on the Ba Town Council.
All 12 seats of the Town Council 6 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||
The Ratepayers Alliance, dominated by the NFP, won 10 of the 12 seats. The remaining 2 were won by the FLP.
All 9 seats of the Town Council 5 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||
The election for control of the Savusavu Town Council was fought entirely between locally-organised groups with no ties to national political parties. Of the 9 seats, the Lighthouse won 6 and Sunrise 2.
All 21 seats of the Town Council 11 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. | ||||||||||||||||
The SDL narrowly won control of the 21-member Nasinu Town Council, taking 11 seats, against 10 for the FLP.
The Ratepayers Association extended its 17-year hold on the Lami Town Council by winning another term.
The FLP made allegations of electoral fraud in the Towns of Ba and Labasa. People living outside the municipal boundaries were allegedly enrolled as voters. According to the FLP, electoral authorities ignored 300 such cases in Labasa. In all municipalities, there were reports of voters finding that their names had not been registered on the final roll, despite appearing on the provisional one; the FLP claimed that a number of these were known supporters of the party.
The Fiji Labour Party, 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 United Fiji Party was a political party in Fiji. It was founded in 2001 by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as a power base; it absorbed most of the Christian Democratic Alliance and other conservative groups, and its endorsement by the Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga) caused it to be widely seen as the successor to the Alliance Party, the former ruling party that had dominated Fijian politics from the 1960s to the 1980s. It drew its support mainly from indigenous Fijiians.
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.
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 claims to represent all Fiji Islanders, it is 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.
The National Alliance Party of Fiji (NAPF) was a Fijian political party. It was formally registered on 18 January 2005 by Ratu Epeli Ganilau, as the claimed successor to the defunct Alliance Party, which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987 under the leadership of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Ganilau's father-in-law. Others involved with the party included university lecturer Meli Waqa as party secretary, and Manu Korovulavula as treasurer. The Deputy Leader was Hirdesh Sharma. The party was launched publicly at a mass rally in Suva on 8 April 2005.
The Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance (SCRA) was a Fijian political party that operated only on the municipal level, in the city of Lautoka. It was founded early in 2005 with a view to contesting the municipal elections to the Lautoka City Council, scheduled for 22 October 2005. It failed to win any seats, however, either in the main election, or in the special election on 12 November for four seats in the Simla ward, which had been postponed.
The Grand Coalition for Fiji, formerly known as the Grand Coalition Initiative Group, was a coalition of five predominantly indigenous Fijian political parties in Fiji, forged for the purpose of contesting the general election scheduled for 2006 under a single umbrella and forming a coalition government subsequently. Efforts to unite the ethnic Fijian parties were in part a response to their electoral defeat in 1999, when they had been split, enabling the Indian-backed FLP to win a landslide victory. Nevertheless, Tomasi Vakatora, the chairman of the Grand Coalition, publicly stated in February 2006 that it was open to sharing preferences with the predominantly Indian parties. By the time of the election, however, the coalition was virtually defunct.
Captain Ratu Peni Volavola is a former Lord Mayor of the Fijian capital of Suva.
The Suva City Council is the municipal law-making body of the city of Suva, Fiji's capital. It consists of 20 Councillors, elected for three-year terms from four multi-member constituencies called wards. Councillors, who are elected by residents, landowners, and representatives of corporations owning or occupying ratable property in Suva, elect a Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor from among their own members; they serve one-year terms and are eligible for reelection. Since the dismissal of the councillors by the interim military government the City Council is run by a Special Administrator appointed by the Ministry of Local Government.
General elections were held in Fiji between 6 and 13 May 2006.
Local elections in Fiji are held for two cities and ten towns. Each city or town has a council comprising between 8 and 20 members, elected for three-year terms, although the government announced legislation on 15 February 2006 to extend the term to four years. Each city or town council elects from among its own members a Mayor for one year. Consecutive terms are permitted.
Local elections were held in Fiji on 22 October 2005 to elect the councils of eleven municipalities. In Suva, the elections for the Suva City Council were postponed until 12 November due to the death of two candidates; the death of a candidate in Lautoka also resulted in the postponement of the poll in one of the four wards.
Western United Front (WUF) was an ethnically Fijian political party formed prior to the 1982 elections and contested the election in coalition with the National Federation Party . The party was in response to the disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples in the Western Provinces of Viti Levu as despite the presence pf major economic drivers of the country located in their areas they lack representation on the decision making table of the country.
Navin Maharaj is a Fiji Indian businessman, former mayor of Suva and member of the House of Representatives of Fiji.
Charan Jeath Singh is an Indo-Fijian businessman, politician, and Cabinet Minister. From 1992 to 2005 he was Mayor of Labasa. He is the founder of the CJS Group of companies.
Shiromaniam Madhavan, son of a founding member of the National Federation Party (NFP), was a Fiji Indian politician who served in the Labasa Town Council and the House of Representatives. He contested numerous elections for different political parties.
