Q1: Explain the manifestos of political parties contented the 1977 elections? Why 1977 election became important in context of a constitutional crisis? [NFP won the elections and still not formed the government. Why?
Manifesto of National Alliance Party- 1977 Election
The main idea of NAP was “peace, progress and prosperity”. NAP planned to make policies according to Development Plan VII (1976-80), it aims in particular at assisting those who live in the rural areas and the outer islands'. Ratu Mara emphasized that greater food production would be encouraged and dwelt on his party's record at home and abroad.
NAP mentioned gradual introduction of free education, growth of rural junior secondary schools, the Agricultural Landlords and Tenants Act (1976), Lome Convention and the Law of the Sea Conferences. Mara argued that his party had promoted racial harmony: 'We believe in harmony and maintain and promote it for its own sake and for the happiness and well-being of our people'.
Manifesto of National Federation Party- 1977 Election
Koya address also contained a special appeal to the Indian community, the majority of whom supported his party. Koya accused the Alliance of failing 'to give an effective and an appropriate assurance to the Indian community when in October 1975 Mr Sakiasi Butadroka had unsuccessfully moved a motion in Parliament calling for the repatriation of all Fiji citizens of Indian parentage.
Koya condemned the Alliance for not solving the land problem and ignoring requests 'to embark on a comprehensive plan to reclaim land on a large scale'. Koya denounced the existing tax structure as excessively burdening 'the middle classes and rural dwellers'. The Alliance record in industrial relations, welfare, education, and its handling of trouble at the Emperor Gold Mines were all attacked.
Manifesto of Fijian Nationalist Party- 1977 Election
- The interests of the Fijians to be paramount at all times as they are the natives of Fiji therefore should be given more importance.
- The Fijians must always hold the positions of Governor-General, Prime Minister, Minister for Fijian Affairs and Rural Development, Minister for Lands, Minister for Education, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Commerce Industry and Co-operatives.
- More opportunities should be given for Fijians to enter business and commerce. Total opposition to common roll. Strengthen Fijian Administration and the Government should give it financial backing and support.
- Establishment of a Fijian Institute to teach Fijians in business.
- Pensions for ex-servicemen. Indians should be repatriated to India after Fiji gained full independence. More Government development projects should be concentrated in rural areas.
- Expansion of the Royal Fiji Military Forces' trade section to help ease unemployment.
- The return to Fijians of all land that was illegally sold.
Why 1977 election became important in context of a constitutional crisis?
Fiji's parliamentary election of March 1977 precipitated a constitutional crisis, which was the first major challenge to the country's democratic institutions since independence in 1970.
Politics in the years before and after independence had been dominated by the conflicting interests of the ethnic Fijian and Indo-Fijian communities. At that time, Indo-Fijians slightly outnumbered ethnic Fijians, but by holding a virtual monopoly of the ethnic Fijian vote and by making significant inroads into the Indo-Fijian electorate (taking almost a quarter of their votes in the election of 1972), Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's Alliance Party had maintained its grip on power. A split in the indigenous vote in 1977, however, resulted in a narrow win for the Indo-Fijian-dominated National Federation Party (NFP). Sidiq Koya, the NFP leader, was expected to become Prime Minister.
Instead, the Governor-General, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, called on Mara to form a caretaker government, pending new elections scheduled for September. The events that led to his decision, and his reasons for it, are still mired in controversy, with different parties involved telling different versions of the situation, and conspiracy theories have abounded. What is known is that a leadership struggle immediately following the election seriously fractured the NFP
Why did NFP failed to form the government after winning 1977 Election?
To begin with, they had 26 out of 52 seats, hardly an effective majority. They were confronted with unexpected success, and in their hour of victory genuinely did not know what to do; there was some confusion, if not shock, among their ranks. They were apprehensive as to how the country might take to a government wherein Indians had a majority, and probably with an Indian Prime Minister.
There were genuine fears that the reaction would be such as to make their efforts to govern not worth while, particularly as some of the NFP felt that ruling at any stage would have been difficult, and with only 26 out of 52 seats the attempt would be doomed to failure which might herald racial strife. Moreover there was concern, whether rightly or wrongly is difficult to discern, that they might not be able to command the loyalty of the army and civil service to the degree obtained by the Alliance. And as one of them stated publicly, they did not have among themselves a leader of stature able to inspire national confidence.
Q2. Which all political parties contested 1982 election and what were their manifestos? What were the reasons of Alliance victory over NFP-WUP Coalition?
Which all political parties contested 1982 election and what were their manifestos?
There four political parties that contested 1982 election, which includes; National Alliance Party, National Federation Party, Western United Front (collision with NFP IN 1982 Election) and Fijian Nationalist Party. All the parties had different manifestos to grab the vote in the election.
Manifestos
1. Western United Front
-Protect and encourage the unity of western Fijians.
- Protect the interests of landowners and to defend their rights to develop their resources according to their aspirations, this was because of disenchantment of western Fijians about not receiving fair return from the Native Land Trust Board (NLTB) from the income derived from their land.
-Seek changes in the Ministry of Fijian Affairs and Rural Development to improve the lives of western Fijians.
- WUP also wanted Improve educational facilities of western Fijians and provides them opportunities in commercial and industrial enterprises. Western Fijian were not given important positions in civil service, provincial administration and statutory bodies
2. National Federation Party
NFP aimed to make certain constitutional changes or modification in order to achieve common roll that is one person to cast one vote. NFP’s Coalition with WUF accepted the primacy of the 'competitive free enterprise system', and promised minimum government regulation of private business. Foreign investment would be encouraged. Their Campaign pointed towards sluggish economy, influence of big businesses, stagnation under Alliance, and call for 'Time For a Change' for a 'Better Tomorrow.'
3. National Alliance Party
Ganilau declared uniting the people of Fiji to be the most urgent priority. "We are here today, not so much as to launch a political party but more so and more importantly we are here today to project a vision that will inspire hope," Ganilau said. He condemned the promotion of communal interests and policies which, he said, denied the nation's advancement.
In addition to promoting interethnic cooperation and national unity, the party would strongly emphasize economic development, Ganilau said. He called for greater government investment in shipbuilding, as well as in agriculture, tourism, and the clothing industry.
The party took a strong stand against the government's controversial Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill. If passed, the bill would set up a Commission empowered to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the 2000 coup. Opponents said that the bill was just a legal mechanism for releasing supporters of the government who had been imprisoned on coup-related charges.
4. Fijian Nationalist Party
The interests of the Fijians to be paramount at all times as they are the natives of Fiji therefore should be given more importance. The Fijians must always hold the positions of Governor-General, Prime Minister, Minister for Fijian Affairs and Rural Development, Minister for Lands, Minister for Education, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Commerce Industry and Co-operatives.
What were the reasons of Alliance victory over NFP-WUP Coalition?
The WUF obviously was primarily a regional Fijian splinter party. To become an effective national political force it needed more widely-based multiracial support, so they formed a coalition between NFP and WUP on 11 January 1982, where Ratu Osea Gavidi got opportunity to launch himself with help of NFP whereas Jai Ram Reddy got some Fijian support. But the coalition was still weak in front of Alliance Party, as it revolved around certain candidates and lacks cooperation on party lines. Whereas, Alliance was better prepared and more disciplined party. FNP was on a decline after victory in 1977 election, and in 1982 election they made no public demands for expulsion of Fijians, instead emphasis was on the preservation and enhancement of Fijian interests. NFP also had the bad image in public as it failed to form its government after winning 1977 election. Hence, there was coalition of two political parties that did not have any strong key factor to grab the attention of voters and win the election by majority. On the other side, Alliance party was much experienced in the role of government and its achievement in the economy was clearly evident.
Q3: Read both the articles of 1977 and 1982 Elections, and write a summary of both in regard to their significance in Fiji's elections.
Reading 1: 1977 Election
28th February 1977, the official campaigning began by NAP with the main ideology of peace, progress and prosperity, especially development in the rural and islands. NAP also stated that they promote racial harmony and will also work towards securing food production. On 2nd March 1977, NFP also started it campaign mostly criticizing the NAP; firstly failure to provide assurance to Indian Community, secondly, taxation structure and thirdly, the land problems Indians were facing. FNP concentrated his appeal solely on Fijians. He set out to convince them that independence had undermined their constitutional rights and denied them adequate control over their country. At the end of the first week of the campaign it seemed that the 1977 General Election might be one without any significant issues. But this soon proved not to be the case. There developed, in fact, two elections: one between the traditional rivals, Alliance and the NFP, among Indians, and the second, between the Alliance and the FNP, among Fijians.
NAP was the best organized party with both, wealth and experience. Whereas, NFP was having a sort of trouble within the party members. FNP which was the newly formed party was suffering through the financial problems. Between 1972 to 1977, Fiji faced economic recession that led to increase in prices, thus affecting rural Fijians the most due to high transportation cost. Butadroka suggested an alternative to this recession was sending Indians to India, he also petitioned an unsuccessful motion to parliament. Butadroka also attacked NAP, criticizing that only Prime Ministers home island and village was been developed under the NAP government. Due to FNP’s racial hatred towards Indian, they failed to grab votes from Indian community.
NAP was alleged for the discrimination in education as Indian students had to attain 261 and Fijian students had to score 216 to qualify for scholarship. In addition to education discrimination, there was also 50% reservation of scholarships for Fijian students. NFP also emphasized how NAP over taxed the farmers which led to eventually increase in the price of harvest. The NFP set out to convince Indians in the way that FNP did the Fijians that the Alliance would betray them. Indian security could be safeguarded only by NFP. The NFP exploited the sense of insecurity that had been plaguing Indian minds for some time. Elements in the civil service, for instance, were apprehensive that race not qualifications and performance were becoming the criteria for promotions: those Indians in the middle of their careers were particularly anxious.
The result of the election did not have big differences, NFP won 26 seats and NAP won 24 seats. Mara could have formed a coalition with FNP to get the majority, but due to many Indian candidates in NAP, Mara refused to form the coalition. Another reason why Mara didn’t form the coalition was that it would have depicted that Mara is greedy for power therefore he formed the coalition. NFP failed to form its government despite winning the result, therefore Governor General asked NAP to be a caretaker government.
Reading 2: 1982 Election
1982 General Election was the battle between four political parties; Fijian Nationalist Party, Western- United Front coalition with National Federation Party, and National Alliance Party. Final results came in by mid-day Sunday 19 July, after a week's polling; the Alliance had won 28 of the 52 seats in the House of Representatives and the NFP-WUF Coalition 24 seats. FNP failed to secure a single seat. When nominations closed on 21 May 1982, 144 candidates had filed their papers, but six subsequently withdrew. The Alliance, as usual, fielded candidates for all 52 seats, as also this time did the NFP-WUF Coalition. The FNP put forward a record 27 names, 5 while there were seven Independents.
NAP has positioned itself at a level where they are the most experienced party in governing, unified party member and all of all to be led by a great leader, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. The challenge faced by Mara was choosing of new faces to be part of the party, as mainly the Indian members left the party and joined NFP. On the other side, Jai Ram Reddy, the leader of NFP was also facing some issues. Reddy was trying to retain his position and fragile unity of the party. The Dove and Flower fraction had already emerged within NFP. Division within NFP was based along the religion and ethnic group. Dove was the representation of Siddiq Koya and Flower was the representation of Reddy.
The inspiring force behind the formation of the WUF, Ratu Osea Gavidi, had won the Nadroga-Navosa Fijian Communal seat in 1977. He had done so as an Independent, a fact which testified to his immense popularity which was predominantly the result of his stand on the pine dispute. In the minds of most people outside the west, the origin of the WUF and the pine issue are intricately interlinked, one and the same thing. Gavidi wanted landowners to get the greater share of profits generated from the pine industry. They drew attention to the paucity of western Fijians in high positions in the civil service, provincial administration, statutory bodies and the like, a disparity which seemed especially glaring in contrast to their over-all contribution to the economy. On 11 January 1982, an agreement was reached in Suva to form an NFP and WUF Coalition.
For Gavidi, the risk was perhaps greater, coalescing as he was with a predominantly Indian party whose appeal among Fijian voters had always been abysmally low. The Coalition, then, was an act of convenience, but it also was an act of moral and political courage which, despite its lack of precise definition and lateness on the political scene, appealed powerfully to those who sought an alternative to the Alliance. And the Coalition was a viable alternative. Sakiasi Butadroka, FNP's Secretary and guiding spirit, focused his efforts in rural areas in southeastern Viti Levu. In fact, he acknowledged that he had been campaigning for this election since 1977. The last five years had been a time of great stress and even disenchantment for the FNP. After its astonishing success in the April 1977 elections when it had attracted a quarter of all Fijian communal votes and won a seat in parliament, contributing in the process to the equally unbelievable defeat of the Alliance, the party had been on the decline.
With the disclosures by the ABC-TV current affairs programme, 'Four-Corners', of foreign (Australian) interference in the Fiji elections. The programme highlighted the role and influence of Australian multinationals in Fiji and questioned the validity of imposing Western political standards on third world countries. In particular it dwelt on the contents of the Carroll Report which was reported not only to recommend questionable tactics for winning elections but also to involve misuse of Australian aid money by the Alliance party.
The Coalition made an issue of the Carroll Report, obtained a copy of the TV programme, made over 300 copies of it and screened them widely throughout Fiji. A number of contradictions and inconsistencies were highlighted in it.