Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former leader,Sitiveni Rabuka,the former trade union leader became Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister on 19 May 1999,but exactly one year later,on 19 May 2000 he and most of his Cabinet were taken hostage by coup leader George Speight,in the Fiji coup of 2000. Unable to exercise his duties,he and his ministers were sacked by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara on 27 May;Mara intended to assume emergency powers himself but was himself deposed by the military leader,Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
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.
Tupeni Lebaivalu Baba is a Fijian academic,politician,and former Cabinet Minister. A founding member of the Fiji Labour Party,he served as a Cabinet Minister in the government of Timoci Bavadra until removed from office by the 1987 Fijian coups d'état,and then one of the two Deputy Prime Ministers in the government of Mahendra Chaudhry until removed from office by the 2000 Fijian coup d'état. After splitting with Choudhry in the wake of the coup,he founded the New Labour Unity Party to contest the 2001 election,but failed to win a seat in Parliament. He unsuccessfully attempting to re-enter politics at the 2006 election under the banner of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua,and again at the 2014 election as part of the Social Democratic Liberal Party.
General elections were held in Fiji in August and September 2001. The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party won 18 of the 23 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians and one of three "general electorates" set aside for Fiji's European,Chinese,and other minorities. It also won 13 of the 25 "open electorates," so-called because they are open to candidates of any race and are elected by universal suffrage. The remaining five ethnic Fijian seats,and one open electorate,were won by the Conservative Alliance,one of whom was George Speight who had led the putsch against the lawful government the year before. Chaudhry's Labour Party won all 19 Indo-Fijian seats and eight open electorates. The New Labour Unity Party,formed by defectors from the FLP,won one general electorate and one open electorate. The three remaining seats were won by minor parties and independent candidates.
Ratu Tevita Momoedonu was a Fijian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Fiji twice –each time extremely briefly. Both appointments were to get around constitutional technicalities;his first term of office –on 27 May 2000 lasted only a few minutes. His second term –from 14 to 16 March 2001 was for two days. He subsequently served his country as Ambassador of Fiji to Japan. Using his chiefly title of "Taukei Sawaieke",he later led pushed for the Yasana of Ba to secede from the Burebasaga and Kubuna Confederacies to form their own fourth confederacy under the Tui Vuda,Ratu Josefa Iloilo,who died in 2011.
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 Fijian Association Party (FAP) is a former political party in Fiji. It played a significant role in Fijian politics throughout the 1990s,but lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives in the parliamentary election of 2001.
Poseci Waqalevu Bune was a Fijian civil servant,diplomat,politician and Cabinet Minister. He served as chair of the Public Service Commissioner,secretary to the Prime Minister,and as Fiji's permanent representative to the United Nations,as well as a Cabinet Minister in the governments of Mahendra Chaudhry and Laisenia Qarase,and in the military regime of Frank Bainimarama. Bune died of prostate cancer on 22 November 2023,at the age of 77.
General elections were held in Fiji between 6 and 13 May 2006.
Joji Natadra Banuve was a Fijian politician,who served in the Cabinet as Assistant Minister for Local Government,Housing,Squatter Settlement,and the Environment. In the aforementioned roles,he assisted Colonel Pio Wong,who succeeded him in all of these portfolios.
Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi,is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. He was one of the youngest members to be elected into Parliament in 1992. He has represented the Nadroga Indian Communal Constituency,which he won for the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) in the parliamentary elections of 1992,1994,1999,2001,and 2006. After the 1999 election he was appointed Assistant Minister in Prime Minister's Office. He was appointed Minister for Youth and Sports and Employment Opportunities in the interim administration that followed the military coup that took place on 5 December 2006. He was born to a family of Rajasthani descent.
Pravin Singh was a Fijian politician of Indian descent,who won the Tavua Open Constituency in the House of Representatives for the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) in the parliamentary elections of 1999 and 2001.
Vijay Singh is a former Fijian politician of Indian descent,who represented the Vuda Open Constituency in the House of Representatives for the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) from 2001 to 2006,having retained the seat at the 2001 parliamentary election with more than 57 percent of the votes cast.
Perumal Mupnar is a former Fijian politician of Indian Tamil descent,who held the Yasawa Nawaka Open Constituency in the House of Representatives for the Fiji Labour Party in the parliamentary election of 2001. In the parliamentary election held on 6–13 May 2006,he transferred to the Nadi Rural Indian Communal Constituency and held it for the FLP.
Gaffar Ahmed is a former Fiji Labour Party (FLP) Fijian politician of Indian descent. Ahmed was born in Ba and is a former police officer. He represented the Ba West Indian Communal Constituency,one of 19 reserved for Indo-Fijians,from 1995 to 2006.
Dr Gunasagaran Gounder is a Fiji Indian medical doctor who,as a Fiji Labour Party candidate,defeated the Leader of Opposition,Jai Ram Reddy of the National Federation Party,in the contest for the Yasawa Nawaka Open Constituency seat in the 1999 general election. He was subsequently appointed Assistant Minister for Health in the Peoples Coalition Government led by Mahendra Chaudhry from 1999 to 2000.
Pratap Chand is a former Fijian politician of Indian descent. In the House of Representatives he represented the Nasinu Indian Communal Constituency from 1999 to 2006. He held the seat,one of 19 reserved for Indo-Fijians,for the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) in the general elections of 1999 and 2001.
Ragho Nand is a Fiji Indian former politician who was also a Minister in the multi-party cabinet following the 2006 election.
Chaitanya Lakshman is a Fiji Indian lawyer,social worker and politician who served in the multi-party cabinet of the Qarase Government as Minister for Local Government.
