Merger with BKV
PANU's chief rival for support in Ba Province was the Protector of Fiji, better known locally as Bai Kai Viti (BKV), with which it merged in 2004 to form the People's National Party (PNP). Following the completion of the merger, PANU and the BKV were both formally deregistered on 23 August 2005.
Reregistration of PANU
Not all PANU supporters were happy about the party's dissolution, however, or about the decision of the merged party to participate in the Grand Coalition Initiative Group, an electoral coalition of ethnic Fijian parties seeking to present a united front for the forthcoming election, scheduled for August or September 2006. On 25 November 2005, Lesavua announced that in response to public demand, he and a number of others were spearheading attempts to revive the party and reregister it. The necessary documents would be filed with the Elections Office within a week, Lesavua said. "The party is being revived because of the great demand from people at the grassroot level for PANU to contest the 2006 general election, he stated.
The Fiji Times reported on 11 January 2006 that Lesavua had made the necessary arrangements the previous week to reregister the party. The failed merger with the BKV had been on the basis of a promise not to enter into any racially exclusive or biased coalition. The breach of this promise was a dangerous trend amongst the majority of Fiji's political parties, Lesavua said.
Lesavua condemned the overwhelming dominance of indigenous Fijians in the present Cabinet. "Most of those in cabinet are either Fijian or Rotuman even though our country is a multi-racial country," he complained. He said that PANU would promote the principles of justice, love, unity, and fairness, to ensure that all citizens were successful, regardless of their race, religion, or creed.
In another twist to the ongoing saga of PANU-BKV relations, Lesavua announced on 23 January 2006 that the BKV, like PANU, had seceded from the PNP and had signed an agreement to merge with PANU, in order to present a united front representing western Fiji. Lesavua also told Fiji Village that the party would be sharing preferences with the Fiji Labour Party and the National Alliance Party.
New merger with PNP
Fiji Live revealed on 2 March that the abortive merger of PANU with the PNP had been resurrected. Officials of the PNP and PANU had met over the weekend at the village of Sorokoba, Ba, to formalize a merger of their two parties. "In politics there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends but we hope they understand and they will be informed of the move," PNP leader Meli Bogileka told Fiji Television. It was announced on 5 March that the BKV has also joined the re-merged party, which will contest the 2006 election under the PANU banner. Recapturing the three seats that it won in 2000 would be a priority, said Ponipate Lesavua.
Reacting to the merger, Jale Baba, campaign coordinator of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), said that it was a sad move. Establishing a party for the purpose of promoting one particular region in Parliament was "provincialism", he said.
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.
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.
The Conservative Alliance was a right-wing political party in Fiji, and a member of the ruling coalition government. It was commonly known as the CAMV, a combination of the initials of its English and Fijian names. At its annual general meeting on 17 February 2006, the party voted to dissolve itself and merge with its coalition partner, the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL). The President of the party at the time of its dissolution was Ratu Tanoa Cakobau, a Bauan chief, while Ratu Josefa Dimuri served as General Secretary. For legal reasons, Parliamentary members of the disbanded party maintained a separate caucus in the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, until the end of the parliamentary term, on 27 March 2006.
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 Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT), occasionally known in English as Fijian Political Party, was a party which dominated the politics of Fiji in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999.
The Bai Kei Viti, was a political party in Fiji.
The People's National Party (PNP) is a former Fijian political party.
RatuMeli Bogileka is a Fijian politician. He was the Secretary of the People's National Party (PNP) up to its decision to merge into the Party of National Unity (PANU) on 5 March 2006. This merger, an affair complicated by several about-turns, saw Bogileka appointed Secretary of the new PANU..
Mohammad Apisai Vuniyayawa Tora was a Fijian politician, soldier, and trade unionist. As a labour leader, he was a fighter for dock workers. As a soldier, he served in Malaya and later served as President of the Ex-Servicemen's League.
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.
General elections were held in Fiji between 6 and 13 May 2006.
The Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party (NVTLP) was a Fijian political party which championed Fijian ethnic nationalism. It was led by Iliesa Duvuloco, while Viliame Savu served as the party's president.
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 poll postponement in one of the four wards.
The People's Coalition was an alliance of three political parties in Fiji, formed in March 1999 to contest the parliamentary election to be held in May that year. The three parties were the Fiji Labour Party (FLP), led by Mahendra Chaudhry, the Fijian Association Party (FAP), led by Adi Kuini Speed, and the Party of National Unity (PANU), led by Apisai Tora.
Ratu Sairusi Nagagavoka (1920–2014) was a Fijian chief and political leader from Ba Province. He held the traditional title of Momo na Tui Ba , commonly abbreviated to Tui Ba Bulu, and as such was one of two paramount chiefs in the Ba district of Ba Province. He was the President of the Party of National Unity (PANU), which he founded in 1998.
Elections to the offices of President and Vice-President of Fiji took place on 8 March 2006, when the Great Council of Chiefs met as an electoral college at the Tradewinds Convention Centre in Lami. The Great Council re-elected President Ratu Josefa Iloilo and Vice-President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi to another five-year term.
Ponipate Tawase Lesavua was a Fijian politician, who led the now-defunct Party of National Unity, which drew most of its support from Ba Province in the West of the country. The former Police officer, who spent 20 years in the Criminal Investigation Department, was an outspoken politician, who championed what he saw as the interests of western Fiji. He has endorsed calls for a return to the former system of customary justice, in force during the colonial era, under which convicted offenders would be returned to their villages not only for punishment but also for counselling and correction, according to the Fiji Times.
