Tupou Draunidalo | |
---|---|
President of the National Federation Party | |
In office March 2014 –January 2017 | |
Succeeded by | Parmod Chand |
Member of the Fijian Parliament for NFP List | |
In office 17 September 2014 –23 January 2017 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Tupou Takaiwai Senirewa Draunidalo |
Nationality | Fijian |
Political party | Fijian Association Party National Federation Party HOPE Party |
Relations | Timoci Bavadra (stepfather) |
Parent(s) | Kuini Speed (mother) Savenaca Draunidalo (father) |
Education |
|
Alma mater | University of the South Pacific Australian National University |
Occupation | Lawyer, politician |
Roko Tupou Takaiwai Senirewa Draunidalo is a Fijian lawyer and politician. She is a former member of the Parliament of Fiji and from 2018 to 2022 was the president of the HOPE party.
Draunidalo is the daughter of former Fiji Deputy Prime Minister Adi Kuini Speed, a Paramount Chief from Nadroga-Navosa, who was deposed in the 2000 Fijian coup d'état, and her first husband, Savenaca Draunidalo, who served in the cabinet of Laisenia Qarase, which was deposed in the 2006 Fijian coup d'état. Her stepfather, Timoci Bavadra was briefly Prime Minister of Fiji in 1987, before being ousted in the 1987 military coup by Sitiveni Rabuka. [1]
Draunidalo was educated at Draiba, Veiuto Primary, Suva Grammar, Canberra Girls' Grammar School, the University of the South Pacific and the Australian National University. She stood as a candidate for the Fijian Association Party (FAP) in the 2001 election, contesting the Laucala Open Constituency, but polled only 248 votes out of more than 11,500 votes cast.
On 9 September 2006, she was elected Vice-President of the Fiji Law Society, defeating Rajesh Gordon.
Draunidalo condemned the military coup that took place on 5 December 2006, and threatened a possible court challenge to the legitimacy of the interim Cabinet sworn in on 8–9 January 2007. [2]
On 30 January 2007 Draunidalo was arrested by soldiers along with Pacific Centre for Public Integrity Director Angie Heffernan and questioned on charges of sedition. [3] [4] In June 2007 she was prevented from leaving Fiji to attend an international conference after being mistakenly included on an immigration blacklist. [5] [6] In July 2007 she was charged with contempt of court after stating in an interview with ABC that Fijian lawyers had lost faith in the judiciary. [7] The case was subsequently withdrawn, but the High Court criticised Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum for bringing it and awarded costs against him. [8]
Draunidalo represented lawyers including the president of the Fiji Law Society Mr. Dorsami Naidu in various litigation after the 2006 coup, she also represented an NGO in an application at the eleventh hour to join the constitutional litigation going to the validity of the 1997 constitution between the elected prime minister and the usurping military commander. The substantive matter upheld the validity of the constitution and the arguments of Draunidalo's NGO client was largely adopted by the court.
In 2012, Draunidalo represented former Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in his corruption trial. [9]
In March 2014 Draunidalo was elected as president of the National Federation Party. [10] She competed in the 2014 election, winning 2,966 votes [11] and becoming one of eight women to enter parliament. [12]
In June 2016, she made remarks against the Fijian Minister for Education, Mahendra Reddy asking him if he thought the opposition side were "dumb natives". She was taken to the government controlled Privileges Committee who recommended that she be suspended from parliament for the remainder of the term. [13] [14] In January 2017 she resigned from the NFP and from parliament to avoid working with Sitiveni Rabuka who had resumed leadership of the main opposition party. [15] Her seat was taken by Parmod Chand, [16] and she was succeeded in the presidency by Pio Tikoduadua. [17]
In 2018 Draunidalo formed the HOPE Party, becoming its leader. [18] The party was registered in July 2018, [19] with Draunidalo leading it into the 2018 elections. The party won no seats, and was deregistered and effectively banned by the Fijian government in February 2022. [20]
In June 2022 Draunidalo applied to become a candidate for FijiFirst. [21] In January 2023 she was nominated to the Constitutional Offices Commission by opposition leader Frank Bainimarama as a replacement for Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. [22]
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka is a Fijian politician who has served 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.
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 as Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji 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.
Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama is a Fijian politician and former naval officer who served as the prime minister of Fiji from 2007 until 2022. A member of the FijiFirst party, which he founded in 2014, he began his career as an officer in the Fijian navy and commander of the Fijian military. He served as the opposition leader from 24 December 2022 despite being suspended from Parliament until 8 March 2023, when he resigned and was replaced by Inia Seruiratu.
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Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa is a Fijian chief, former Member of the Parliament of Fiji, and former leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party. She was the first Fijian woman to serve as Leader of the Opposition. She previously held the position of deputy Prime Minister in the Qarase-led Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) government from 2001 to 2006. As the paramount chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy, she holds the title Roko Tui Dreketi.
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HOPE was a political party in Fiji. The party was led by former National Federation Party president Tupou Draunidalo, and supported multiculturalism, a higher minimum wage, and the de-politicisation of the office of Attorney-General.
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of the term of Parliament
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