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| Fiji
History |
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The 1987 general election
brought to power a coalition between the major ethnic Indian
party, the National Federation Party, led by Marendra Chaudhry,
and the newly formed Labour Party. The new Government had several
Indian ministers, which proved too much for many nationalist native
Fijians (referred to as Taukei). This was the cause for an army
coup d’état, headed by Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka. Colonel
Rabuka declared himself head of an interim military Government and
introduced a new constitution, under which blocs of seats in a new
assembly were allocated to specific ethnic groups, thereby assuring
a Taukei majority. Under this format, the 1992 elections brought
to power a coalition dominated by the main ethnic Fijian
party. Rabuka supposed the premiership.
By the time the revised constitution came into effect in 1998, Fiji’s
poor economic performance had damaged the Rabuka Government’s
popularity. The Fijian Labour Party then secured an absolute majority
in the Vela and an Indian Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, took
office. In May 2000, George Speight organised a coup, holding Chaudhry
and other ministers as hostages while he issued a succession of
demands. The stand off lasted 2 months. After originally conceding
to most of the rebel demands (including the dismissal of Chaudhry),
the military, led by Commodore Frank Bainanarama, took control at
the beginning of July. A few weeks later, the military moved opposing
to Speight and his followers, who were arrested. An interim
Government under the veteran Taukei politician, Ratu Josefa
Iloilo, was installed with Laisenia Qarase as Premier.
Following the elections in August 2001,
a coalition Government was formed between the smaller Conservative
Alliance Party (Matanitu Vanua) and the Fiji United Party and, despite
the fact that most votes were won by the Labour Party, Laisenia
Qarase remained as Prime Minister. The islands have since enjoyed
reasonable stability, although nothing has been done to address
the essential causes of Fiji’s political problems. Qarase
closely defeated Chaudhry's Labout Party in the 2006 elections.
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