Ted Young is a Fijian politician, who served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase from 2001 to 2006. He was Minister for Regional Development from 2001 to 2006, when he became Minister of State for Provincial Development. He represented the Lomaivuna Namosi Kadavu Open Constituency, which he won on the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) ticket in the general election of September 2001, defeating Samuela Nawalowalo of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT). He had previously sought to win the seat at the 1999 election, for the Fijian Association Party (FAP), but was defeated by Konisi Yabaki of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT). (Yabaki himself later became Young's SDL Cabinet colleague).
Young was outspoken in his calls for his home Province of Naitasiri to get a fairer share of government funds.
Following the military coup which deposed the government on 5 December 2006, Young was taken in by the military for questioning. No reason was given. On 21 May 2007, he was taken in again by the military for questioning, and allegedly beaten. [1]
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.
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 and politician, who founded the now-defunct New Labour Unity Party. Most members of this party later merged with several other centrist parties to form the Fiji Democratic Party. A former Professor of Education at the University of the South Pacific (USP), he later served as a senior research fellow at the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, from 2001 to the end of 2005. In the general election scheduled for 6–13 May 2006, Baba attempted a political comeback, this time on the ticket of the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), a political switch that generated a considerable degree of public discussion. Although his bid was unsuccessful, he was subsequently appointed to the Senate as one of nine nominees of the Fijian government.
Ratu Inoke Kubuabola is a Fijian politician and Cabinet Minister. He is the former leader of the opposition and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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.
Ratu Naiqama Tawake Lalabalavu is a Fijian Paramount Chief and Member of Parliament. He has been serving as the leader of the opposition since 8 December 2020.
Ratu Josefa Nalumuialevu Dimuri is a Fijian chief and politician, who served as a Senator from 2001 to 2006, when he was elected to the House of Representatives. Following the election, he was appointed Minister of State for Agriculture, Alternative Livelihood, and Outer Island Development.
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.
The Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT), occasionally known in English as Fijian Political Party, was a party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999.
The Christian Democratic Alliance, better known locally by its Fijian name, Veitokani ni Lewenivanua Vakarisito (VLV), was a Fijian political party that operated in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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. By the time of the election, however, the coalition was virtually defunct.
Cakaudrove is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the south-eastern third of the island and including the nearby islands of Taveuni, Rabi, Kioa, and numerous other islands in the Vanua Levu Group. It has a total land area of 2,816 square kilometers, with a population of 50,469 at the most recent census in 2017, making it the seventh most populous province. The only major town is Savusavu, with a population of 3,372 in 2007.
Konisi Tabu Yabaki was a Fijian politician from the southern Kadavu Island. He served in the Cabinet from 2000 to 2006, but lost his portfolios as Minister for Fisheries and Forests after the parliamentary election of 6–13 May 2006. He was subsequently appointed Chairman of the parliamentary committee on Social Services.
Isireli Leweniqila is a former Fijian politician, who served in the Cabinet as Minister for Information and Communications.
Manasa Tugia is a former Fijian politician, who served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2006, and as Chairman of Parliament's Justice, Law, and Order Committee. In the latter role, he coordinated hearings into the government's controversial Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity (RTU) Bill).
Mataiasi Vave Ragigia was a Fijian politician who served in the now-defunct House of Representatives. He held the Suva City Urban Fijian Communal Constituency, which he won for the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua Party (SDL) in the parliamentary election of September 2001, defeating the incumbent Ratu Viliame Volavola of the Fijian Association Party (FAP).
Lieutenant Colonel Jonetani Kaukimoce was a Fijian politician, who served in the House of Representatives from 1992 to 2006. From 1992 to 1999 he stood under the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) banner. In the parliamentary election of September 2001 he won the Tamavua Laucala Urban Fijian Communal Constituency, for the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua Party (SDL).
Mereia Taufa Vakatale, O.F. is a Fijian former politician and educator. She served in the Cabinet of Fiji under the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) during 1993–1995 and 1997–1999. In 1997, she became Fiji's first female Deputy Prime Minister.