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The politics of Fiji take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. Fiji has a multiparty system with the Prime Minister of Fiji as head of government. The executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Fiji. The judiciary is mostly independent of the executive and the legislature.
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 prime minister of Fiji is the head of government of the Republic of Fiji. The prime minister is appointed under the terms of the 2013 Constitution. The prime minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses ministers.
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka is a Fijian politician, sportsman, and former soldier who has been serving as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was democratically elected as Prime Minister of Fiji, serving from 1992 to 1999, and again in 2022, leading a three-party coalition. He also served as Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs from 1999 to 2001, and later as Chairman of the Cakaudrove Provincial Council from 2001 to 2008.
RatuTevita 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.
Since attaining independence from the United Kingdom on 10 October 1970, Fijian history has been marked by exponential economic growth up to 1987, followed by relative stagnation, caused to a large extent by political instability following two military coups in 1987 and a civilian putsch in 2000. This was followed by another military coup in 2006. Rivalry between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, rather than ideological differences, have been the most visible cleavage of Fijian politics. Later in 2020, Fiji was hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the economy and the daily lives of the people.
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.
Krishna Datt, last name sometimes spelt as Dutt, is a Fijian politician of Indian descent. Datt served as Principal of Suva Grammar School, where he participated in the national teachers' strikes in 1985, which launched his political career with the Fiji Labour Party.
The tension between Fiji's government and military forces, which had been simmering for more than two years, appeared to escalate in late December 2005. Tension between the government and the military had been simmering throughout the year, with Commodore Bainimarama and other military officers making strongly worded public statements opposing certain government policies, including the early release from prison of persons implicated in the Fiji coup of 2000, and the government's promotion of controversial legislation to establish a Commission with the power to grant amnesty to perpetrators of the coup.
The crisis that saw a virtual breakdown in relations between Fiji's government and military forces in late 2005 and early 2006, generated fears of civil unrest and even a military coup. The dismissing of Lieutenant Colonel Jone Baledrokadroka, the Acting Land Force Commander, for alleged insubordination on 12 January 2006 was coupled with unusual deployments of troops and naval vessels. Both before and after it was resolved on 16 January with a truce brokered by Acting President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, the crisis generated a great deal of comment.
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.
Vyas Deo Sharma is a former Indo-Fijian politician. In the House of Representatives he represented the Vuda Indian Communal Constituency, one of 19 reserved for Indo-Fijians, from 2001 to 2006.
The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 was a coup d'état in Fiji carried out by Commodore Frank Bainimarama against Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and President Josefa Iloilo. It was the culmination of a political crisis that had begun the previous year when the Qarase government introduced three bills to the Fijian Parliament. The Qoliqoli, Land Tribunal, and Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bills dealt with the ongoing ethnic conflicts in Fiji and the aftermath of the 2000 coup, and were considered to be pro-ethnic Fijian. Bainimarama, the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), presented the government with a list of demands on October 16 that included withdrawing the bills. Attempts at negotiation failed and the military launched a coup on 4 December. Parliament was dissolved, Qarase and his cabinet were dismissed, and some civilian officials were placed under house arrest. After the Great Council of Chiefs refused to appoint a cabinet friendly to the military, Bainimarama reached an understanding with Iloilo and reinstated him as President on 4 January 2007. Iloilo then appointed Bainimarama acting Prime Minister in charge of the Interim Cabinet.
The Constitution of Fiji is the supreme law of Fiji. There have been four Constitutions since the first was adopted in 1970. The first constitution, adopted in 1970 upon independence, was abrogated following two military coups in 1987. A second constitution, the Constitution of the Sovereign Democratic Republic of Fiji, was adopted in 1990. Its discriminatory provisions, which reserved the office of Prime Minister and a built-in majority in the House of Representatives for indigenous Fijians proved very unpopular with the Indo-Fijian community, which comprised almost half the country's population, and in the mid 1990s the government agreed that it should be rewritten. The third constitution, The Constitution of the Republic of the Fiji Islands dates from 1997. The current constitution was implemented in 2013.