The triumph of the non-idealist intellectuals? An investigation of Fiji's 1999 election results

Australian Journal of Politics and History

Volumn 46, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 86-109

  Fraenkel, Jon ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034380780     PISSN: 00049522     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8497.00087     Document Type: Review

References (96)

1. Fiji Census of Population and Housing, Parliamentary Paper 43 (Suva: Bureau of Statistics, 1996).
2. The notable exceptions are Brij V. Lal, "A Time to Change - The Fiji General Elections of 1999", Regime Change and Regime Maintenance in Asia and the Pacific, Discussion Paper number 23 (Canberra: 1999); Robert Norton, "Labour Enjoys Newfound Popularity among Fijians", Fiji Times, 4 July 1999.
3. The notable exceptions are Brij V. Lal, "A Time to Change - The Fiji General Elections of 1999", Regime Change and Regime Maintenance in Asia and the Pacific, Discussion Paper number 23 (Canberra: 1999); Robert Norton, "Labour Enjoys Newfound Popularity among Fijians", Fiji Times, 4 July 1999.
4. Sitiveni Rabuka, cited in Islands Business, September 1987, p. 7.
5. The second coup was inspired by fears that negotiations aimed at restoring some form of constitutional democracy were derailing earlier "coup objectives", see Rabuka, interview in Islands Business, October 1987, p. 16.
6. On the history of the 1990 constitutional review process, see Brij V. Lal, Another Way; The Politics of Constitutional Reform in Post-Coup Fiji (NCDS, ANU, 1998).
7. "Idealist intellectuals", the SVT submission argued, "still implicitly believe in the unilinear theory of social evolution, whereby people are supposed to develop from primitive tribal societies to the modern society of contract and individualism. Societies in which custom and tradition constrain people from becoming successful individualists are regarded as outdated and should be discarded". Such intellectuals, it was triumphantly claimed, are "still traumatised by the military coups of 1987" (SVT, "Respect and Understanding: Fijian Sovereignty, the Recipe for Peace, Stability and Progress", Submission to the Constitutional Review Commission, reprinted in Lal, Another Way, p. 147; see also Footnote 38 below).
8. See Deryck Scarr, "Constitutional Change in Fiji, 1997", Journal of Pacific History, Political Chronicles, 1998, p. 47.
9. Fiji Government, "Promoting National Unity in Fiji: A Preliminary Paper by the Government", 1993, reprinted in Lal, Another Way, p. 109.
10. Scarr, "Constitutional Change", p. 49.
11. Vijay Naidu et al, "Constitutional Change in Fiji; A Reply", Journal of Pacific History, 33, 3 (1998), p. 295.
12. In his address to the SVT caucus on the 19 May 1997, Rabuka, under fire from critics from the Fijian Association and Nationalist Party for "betraying the Fijian cause", made clear that he anticipated a prompt SVT return to power in any post-constitutional amendment election, as indeed appeared likely at that time. "I believe that if we, the Fijian people, can stand united in politics, we should be able to assure ourselves a continuing numerical majority representation in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate, and through this, continued Fijian effective control of the government", Rabuka, "Protecting Fijian Interests", Address to the SVT Caucus, 19 May 1997, reprinted in Lal, Another Way, p. 131.
13. The CRC had advised that Fiji's Presidency remain reserved for an ethnic Fijian, Lal Another Way, pp. 90-91.
14. The British monarch continues to play a peculiar role at the helm of Fiji's chiefly system, as was alluded to by Indo-Fijian leader, Jai Ram Reddy, on the occasion of his landmark address to the Great Council of Chiefs, when he held out the prospect of a renewal of Fiji's historic association with the British monarchy as the prize attending constitutional compromise. "Our consensus ... opens the way for us to once again take our rightful place in the commonwealth. I know this is your wish. It is the wish of Fiji's Indians as well. Like you, we look upon the crown as a noble and comforting symbol of unity. May the day soon come when her majesty can stand before you - indeed before us all -restored as the Queen of Fiji", Jai Ram Reddy, "Address to the Great Council of Chiefs", July 1997, reprinted in Lal, Another Way, p. 142.
15. Fiji CRC, P. Reeves, T.R. Vakatora and B.V. Lal eds., "The Fiji Islands; Towards a United Future", Report of the Fiji Constitutional Review Commission, Parliamentary Paper No 34, 1996, pp. 304-330; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
16. Fiji CRC, P. Reeves, T.R. Vakatora and B.V. Lal eds., "The Fiji Islands; Towards a United Future", Report of the Fiji Constitutional Review Commission, Parliamentary Paper No 34, 1996, pp. 304-330; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
17. Under the new system, the process of allocation of preferences took place in two different ways. Either voters could themselves specify the order of candidates ("voting below the line") or they could vote for only a first-choice candidate ("voting above the line"), leaving that chosen candidate or party to allocate first or subsequent preferences. In the latter case, subsequent votes were redistributed in accordance with lists of preferences lodged with the Elections Office (see David G. Arms, "Fiji's New Voting System; A Critique with Counter-proposals", in Brij V. Lal and Peter Larmour eds., Electoral Systems in Divided Societies; The Fiji Constitutional Review, 1997), p. 105; Brij V. Lal, "A Time to Change", p. 5.
18. Under the new system, the process of allocation of preferences took place in two different ways. Either voters could themselves specify the order of candidates ("voting below the line") or they could vote for only a first-choice candidate ("voting above the line"), leaving that chosen candidate or party to allocate first or subsequent preferences. In the latter case, subsequent votes were redistributed in accordance with lists of preferences lodged with the Elections Office (see David G. Arms, "Fiji's New Voting System; A Critique with Counter-proposals", in Brij V. Lal and Peter Larmour eds., Electoral Systems in Divided Societies; The Fiji Constitutional Review, 1997), p. 105; Brij V. Lal, "A Time to Change", p. 5.
19. 1999 figure kindly supplied by Elections Office, personal communication. For the 1994 figure, see Fiji Times, 22 April 1999.
20. On the earlier history of Fiji's electoral system, see Brij V. Lal Broken Waves; A History of the Fiji Islands in the Twentieth Century (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992), pp. 86-97 and pp. 186-200; Deryck Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion (Kensington: New South Wales University Press, 1988), pp. 10-21; Stephanie Lawson "Constitutional Change in Contemporary Fiji: The Apparatus of Ideological Justification", Working Paper No 93, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, pp. 10-11.
21. On the earlier history of Fiji's electoral system, see Brij V. Lal Broken Waves; A History of the Fiji Islands in the Twentieth Century (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992), pp. 86-97 and pp. 186-200; Deryck Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion (Kensington: New South Wales University Press, 1988), pp. 10-21; Stephanie Lawson "Constitutional Change in Contemporary Fiji: The Apparatus of Ideological Justification", Working Paper No 93, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, pp. 10-11.
22. On the earlier history of Fiji's electoral system, see Brij V. Lal Broken Waves; A History of the Fiji Islands in the Twentieth Century (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992), pp. 86-97 and pp. 186-200; Deryck Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion (Kensington: New South Wales University Press, 1988), pp. 10-21; Stephanie Lawson "Constitutional Change in Contemporary Fiji: The Apparatus of Ideological Justification", Working Paper No 93, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU, pp. 10-11.
23. Rotuma is a predominantly Polynesian island to the Northwest of the Fiji group. "General" voters are those of mixed, European, Chinese or other non-Indian and non-Fijian descent.
24. Iva Tora, "Chiefs Dig In", Pacific Islands Monthly (July 1990), p. 14; Lal, "Time to Change", p. 27; Lal, Another Way, p. 16.
25. Iva Tora, "Chiefs Dig In", Pacific Islands Monthly (July 1990), p. 14; Lal, "Time to Change", p. 27; Lal, Another Way, p. 16.
26. Iva Tora, "Chiefs Dig In", Pacific Islands Monthly (July 1990), p. 14; Lal, "Time to Change", p. 27; Lal, Another Way, p. 16.
27. The remaining Fijian communal seat Lomaiviti, was won by an independent, Simione Kaitani.
28. Rabuka, Address on Fiji Television, 18 May 1999, cited Fiji Times, 19 May 1999; Butadroka, cited in Fiji Times, 22 May 1999.
29. Rabuka, Address on Fiji Television, 18 May 1999, cited Fiji Times, 19 May 1999; Butadroka, cited in Fiji Times, 22 May 1999.
30. Brij V. Lal, "Before the Storm; An Analysis of the Fiji General Election of 1987", Pacific Studies, 12, 1 (1988), p. 90.
31. Robert T. Robertson, Multiculturalism & Reconciliation in an Indulgent Republic; Fiji after the Coups; 1987-1998 (Suva: Fiji Institute of Applied Studies, 1998), p. 140; Scarr "Constitutional Change", p. 44.
32. Robert T. Robertson, Multiculturalism & Reconciliation in an Indulgent Republic; Fiji after the Coups; 1987-1998 (Suva: Fiji Institute of Applied Studies, 1998), p. 140; Scarr "Constitutional Change", p. 44.
33. Tora, "Chiefs Dig In", p. 14.
34. On the history of Western opposition to eastern chiefly dominance and the various Western-based regional parties, see Nicholas Thomas, "Regional Politics, Ethnicity and Custom in Fiji", The Contemporary Pacific, 2, 1 (1990).
35. Asesela Ravuvu, The Facade of Democracy; Fijian Struggles for Political Control, 1830-1987 (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, USP, 1991), pp. 73-74; Robert Norton, Race and Politics in Fiji (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1977, revised edition, 1990), pp. 111-120.
36. Asesela Ravuvu, The Facade of Democracy; Fijian Struggles for Political Control, 1830-1987 (Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, USP, 1991), pp. 73-74; Robert Norton, Race and Politics in Fiji (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1977, revised edition, 1990), pp. 111-120.
37. The ANC in fact eventually coalesced with the FAP. The ANC's support in 1992 and 1994, however, was firmly located in the Western Ba province. The Ba Provincial Council has now become the bastion of support for PANU.
38. See Ropate Qalo, "The Chiefs Council Lives on", Fiji Times 3 June 1999, and the reply of SVT Executive Secretary Ema Druavesi, "What does Qalo Want?", Fiji Times 11 June 1999.
39. See Ropate Qalo, "The Chiefs Council Lives on", Fiji Times 3 June 1999, and the reply of SVT Executive Secretary Ema Druavesi, "What does Qalo Want?", Fiji Times 11 June 1999.
40. Fiji Times 5 April 1999; Fiji Times 4 May 1999.
41. Fiji Times 5 April 1999; Fiji Times 4 May 1999.
42. On whose earlier role, see John Garrett, "Uncertain Sequel: The Social and Religious Scene in Fiji Since the Coups", The Contemporary Pacific, 2, 1 (1990), pp. 100-104; Robertson, Multiculturalism & Reconciliation, pp. 65-70.
43. On whose earlier role, see John Garrett, "Uncertain Sequel: The Social and Religious Scene in Fiji Since the Coups", The Contemporary Pacific, 2, 1 (1990), pp. 100-104; Robertson, Multiculturalism & Reconciliation, pp. 65-70.
44. The Tui Cakau, for example, retains considerable influence over the electoral fortunes and selection of candidates in Cakaudrove. In the Fijian communal Lau constituency, endorsement of Christian Democrat candidate Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau by the Lau Provincial Council was deemed among supporters as removing any necessity for a Christian Democratic election campaign, Malani, letter to Fiji Times 6 May 1999; see also Fiji Times 1 May 1999; Fiji Times 4 May 1999). Opposition to Western-style democratic campaigning remains widespread, particularly among Christian Democrat supporters for whom this represents "a major break with tradition in a culture which places great emphasis on respect for chiefs and the dignity of their office", Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, p. 84.
45. In the Tailevu North/Ovalau open seat, for example, two members of the Tui Kaba, family of the Vunivalu of Bau, fought the election under the rival banners of the SVT (Adi Litia Cakobau) and FAP (Ratu Tu'uakitau Cokanauto). Tu'uakitau's eventual election paved the way for his post-election challenge, supported by prominent Tailevu chiefs, to Navosa chief Adi Kuini Vuikaba Speed's leadership of the FAP. In the Lau/Taveuni/Rotuma open seat, two members of the AiSokula family of the Tui Cakau stood in the elections under the auspices of the Christian Democrats (Ratu Epeli Gavidi Ganilau) and SVT (Ratu Naiqama Tawake Lalabalavu).
46. Lal, "Time to Change", pp. 23. Lal gives the FLP 45.6 per cent of open vote. In fact, the total is 33.3 per cent. His figures add to 111.9 per cent.
47. Robert Norton, "Labour Enjoys Newfound Popularity among Fijians", Fiji Times, 4 July 1999.
48. Lal, "Before the Storm", pp. 91-93; Stephanie Lawson, The Failure of Democratic Politics in Fiji (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), pp. 250-52.
49. Lal, "Before the Storm", pp. 91-93; Stephanie Lawson, The Failure of Democratic Politics in Fiji (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), pp. 250-52.
50. Brij V. Lal, Power and Prejudice; The Making of the Fiji Crisis (Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1998), pp. 7, 39 and 59; Lal, "Time to Change", pp. 4 and 34; Robert Robertson and Akosita Tamanisau, Fiji; Shattered Coups (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1988), p. 155; Michael Howard, Fiji: Race and Politics in an Island State (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1991), pp. 3-13.
51. Brij V. Lal, Power and Prejudice; The Making of the Fiji Crisis (Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1998), pp. 7, 39 and 59; Lal, "Time to Change", pp. 4 and 34; Robert Robertson and Akosita Tamanisau, Fiji; Shattered Coups (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1988), p. 155; Michael Howard, Fiji: Race and Politics in an Island State (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1991), pp. 3-13.
52. Brij V. Lal, Power and Prejudice; The Making of the Fiji Crisis (Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1998), pp. 7, 39 and 59; Lal, "Time to Change", pp. 4 and 34; Robert Robertson and Akosita Tamanisau, Fiji; Shattered Coups (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1988), p. 155; Michael Howard, Fiji: Race and Politics in an Island State (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1991), pp. 3-13.
53. Brij V. Lal, Power and Prejudice; The Making of the Fiji Crisis (Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1998), pp. 7, 39 and 59; Lal, "Time to Change", pp. 4 and 34; Robert Robertson and Akosita Tamanisau, Fiji; Shattered Coups (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1988), p. 155; Michael Howard, Fiji: Race and Politics in an Island State (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1991), pp. 3-13.
54. Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion; Scarr, "Constitutional Change"; see also reviews of the debates in Stewart Firth, "The Contemporary History of Fiji", Journal of Pacific History, 24, 2 (1989), pp. 242-243 and Paul Geraghty, "The Ethnic Basis of Society in Fiji", in Fiji in Transition, Fiji Constitution Review Commission Research Papers (Suva: SSED, USP, 1997), pp. 9-10.
55. Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion; Scarr, "Constitutional Change"; see also reviews of the debates in Stewart Firth, "The Contemporary History of Fiji", Journal of Pacific History, 24, 2 (1989), pp. 242-243 and Paul Geraghty, "The Ethnic Basis of Society in Fiji", in Fiji in Transition, Fiji Constitution Review Commission Research Papers (Suva: SSED, USP, 1997), pp. 9-10.
56. Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion; Scarr, "Constitutional Change"; see also reviews of the debates in Stewart Firth, "The Contemporary History of Fiji", Journal of Pacific History, 24, 2 (1989), pp. 242-243 and Paul Geraghty, "The Ethnic Basis of Society in Fiji", in Fiji in Transition, Fiji Constitution Review Commission Research Papers (Suva: SSED, USP, 1997), pp. 9-10.
57. Scarr, Fiji; The Politics of Illusion; Scarr, "Constitutional Change"; see also reviews of the debates in Stewart Firth, "The Contemporary History of Fiji", Journal of Pacific History, 24, 2 (1989), pp. 242-243 and Paul Geraghty, "The Ethnic Basis of Society in Fiji", in Fiji in Transition, Fiji Constitution Review Commission Research Papers (Suva: SSED, USP, 1997), pp. 9-10.
58. "Even if the Fijians were to concede tomorrow to have a complete common roll system, that will not change the average person's belief that as Taukei, they should control the governance of this country. Secular political ideologies and principles do not because of their admirable qualities or purity of moral purpose, necessarily dissolve or obliterate cultural, religious and behavioural differences, that compel people to identify together as one people and to emphasise these distinctive characteristics as against other people", SVT, "Respect and Understanding", p. 153.
59. The Fiji Bureau of Statistics (personal communication) acknowledges important defects in these data. No adjustment was made for migration or death-rates, since these could not be broken down on a constituency-by-constituency basis. There were also important differences in method of assembly. The Election Office figures were collected on the basis of residency over the previous three months, while the Census figures were assembled on a snapshot basis, depending on where individuals were on the night of the count. The Election Office returns, based on an extensive door-to-door survey, turned up an eligible voting population some 21,000 larger than the Fiji Bureau of Statistics estimates.
60. In two of the constituencies shown on the right hand side of figure 1, the SVT stood no candidates at all (Labasa and Macuata East). In seven of the others, the SVT vote averaged only 3.3 per cent (Ba, Vuda, Yasawa/Nawaka, Nadi, Lautoka City, Nasinu/Rewa and Nausori/Naitasiri). The exceptions, as explained in footnote 43 below, were the western seat of Magrodo and the urban Samabula/Tamavua seat, where the SVT secured respectively 28 per cent and 17.7 per cent of the vote.
61. In six open constituencies shown on the left of figure 2, the NFP stood no candidate at all (Serua/Navosa, Cakaudrove West, Lomaivuna/Namosi/Kadavu, Lau Taveuni/Rotuma, Lami and Ra). In seven others, the party secured on average only 2.2 per cent of the vote (Nadroga, Bua/Macuata West, Tailevu North/Ovalau, Tailevu South/Lomaiviti, Cunningham, Laucala and Suva City). The exception, as explained in footnote 43, was the western seat of Tavua, where the NFP secured 10.9 per cent of the vote.
62. Elections Office, Party Preference Lists, 1999. Shortly before the election, the various coalition parties belatedly stood token candidates in many seats in the hope of maximising supporter turnout. In some cases, coalition partners broke the spirit, if not the letter, of the arrangement by encouraging supporters to vote "below the line" (for instance, in the western seats of Magrodo and Tavua and the Suva urban seat Samabula/Tamavua). I am indebted to Dr Wadan Narsey for this point.
63. Norton now acknowledges that his earlier results were in error, instead reinterpreting these discrepancies between the size of the Fijian and Indo-Fijian electorate and proportions of the ethnically delineated vote for Fijian and Indo-Fijian parties and independent candidates as "rough measures of the extent of cross-ethnic voting", personal communication, 31 August 1999.
64. No adjustment is made for invalid voting. It seems plausible that those casting invalid ballots in the communal seats were most likely also to cast invalid ballots in the communal seats. To the extent that this was so, no adjustment is required.
65. The FLP did not stand candidates in five open seats. Adjustment is made by taking the Election Office returns for the number of Indo-Fijian voters in those constituencies minus average numbers of registered voters and invalid votes in those constituencies multiplied by the average share of the FLP vote in the Indian communal seats.
66. It is probable, however, that a larger percentage of Indo-Fijian voters, although they did not vote for the FLP in the communal seats, shifted loyalty to the FLP in the open seats. Whereas the SVT share of the Fijian communal vote was 38 per cent, its share of the open seat vote for all the Fijian parties and candidates stood at 42 per cent. By contrast, the NFP share of the Indian communal vote was 32 per cent, whereas the party secured a lower 29.3 per cent share of the open vote for all Indo-Fijian parties and candidates. Probable explanations are either that a substantial fraction of NFP supporters deserted the party in favour of the FLP in the open seats, or that the coalition vote transfer arrangement worked overall in favour of the SVT.
67. Adjustment adds the Indian communal vote for PANU and the FAP.
68. The major complication here is, again, the unknown overall extent of NFP/UGP votes transferred at the first count to the SVT and vice versa, since this potentially distorts the "Fijian" open vote for Fijian parties (row 2), increasing or decreasing the size of the lower-bound residual (row 3). The degree of accuracy of the lower-bound estimate depends upon the extent to which overall first preference vote transfers from the NFP/UGP to the SVT in some constituencies matched those from the SVT to the NFP/UGP in other constituencies.
69. Since the variation across constituencies in the percentage of the vote secured by the SVT (average deviation 12 per cent) was a little over twice as high as the variation in the NFP vote (average deviation 5.9 per cent), use of the former may bias the results for specific constituencies to a greater extent than the use of the latter. The rider here is the suggestion that significant numbers of those Indo-Fijians who voted NFP in the communal constituencies may have deserted the party when voting in the open seats, so disturbing results based on extrapolation from the NFP vote in the communal constituencies.
70. Lal, "Before the Storm", p. 91; Lawson, "Constitutional Change", p. 251; Scarr, Politics of Illusion, p. 31.
71. Lal, "Before the Storm", p. 91; Lawson, "Constitutional Change", p. 251; Scarr, Politics of Illusion, p. 31.
72. Lal, "Before the Storm", p. 91; Lawson, "Constitutional Change", p. 251; Scarr, Politics of Illusion, p. 31.
73. Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, p. 75; Qalo, "Chiefs Council", p. 7.
74. Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, p. 75; Qalo, "Chiefs Council", p. 7.
75. Robert Norton, "Ethnic Conflict and Accommodation in Post-Coup Fiji", G. Hage, J. Lloyd, and L. Johnson eds., Pluralising the Asia-Pacific (Sydney: Research Centre in Inter-Communal Studies, University of Western Sydney, 1994), pp. 46-47; Lal, "Time to Change", p. 11.
76. Robert Norton, "Ethnic Conflict and Accommodation in Post-Coup Fiji", G. Hage, J. Lloyd, and L. Johnson eds., Pluralising the Asia-Pacific (Sydney: Research Centre in Inter-Communal Studies, University of Western Sydney, 1994), pp. 46-47; Lal, "Time to Change", p. 11.
77. Chaudhry, cited in The Review, June 1999, p. 20.
78. Geraghty, "Ethnic Basis", pp. 9-10; Garrett, "Uncertain Sequel", pp. 96-97.
79. Geraghty, "Ethnic Basis", pp. 9-10; Garrett, "Uncertain Sequel", pp. 96-97.
80. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, Suva, Fiji, 24 July 1992, pp. 730-731.
81. The 1997 Constitution provides that the support of nine of the fourteen members of the Senate nominated by the President is required for any amendments to the Constitution, Fijian Affairs, Native Land Trust Act, Native Lands Act, Agricultural Landlord and Tenants Act or acts relating to Rotuma or the Banabans on Rabi Island (Fiji Constitution 1997, §192 [4], p144; §185, p139; §64[1a], p91). Fiji's President is appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs, after consultation with the Prime Minister, ibid, 90, p. 58.
82. The 1997 Constitution provides that the support of nine of the fourteen members of the Senate nominated by the President is required for any amendments to the Constitution, Fijian Affairs, Native Land Trust Act, Native Lands Act, Agricultural Landlord and Tenants Act or acts relating to Rotuma or the Banabans on Rabi Island (Fiji Constitution 1997, §192 [4], p144; §185, p139; §64[1a], p91). Fiji's President is appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs, after consultation with the Prime Minister, ibid, 90, p. 58.
83. According to the Elections Office, personal communication.
84. Fiji CRC, "Fiji Islands", pp. 316-317; see also Brij V. Lal, "Fiji Constitutional Review Commission; Recommendations for a New Electoral System", in B.V. Lal and P. Larmour eds., Electoral Systems in Divided Societies; The Fiji Constitutional Review, NCDS (Canberra: Australian National University, 1997), pp. 71-72; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
85. Fiji CRC, "Fiji Islands", pp. 316-317; see also Brij V. Lal, "Fiji Constitutional Review Commission; Recommendations for a New Electoral System", in B.V. Lal and P. Larmour eds., Electoral Systems in Divided Societies; The Fiji Constitutional Review, NCDS (Canberra: Australian National University, 1997), pp. 71-72; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
86. Fiji CRC, "Fiji Islands", pp. 316-317; see also Brij V. Lal, "Fiji Constitutional Review Commission; Recommendations for a New Electoral System", in B.V. Lal and P. Larmour eds., Electoral Systems in Divided Societies; The Fiji Constitutional Review, NCDS (Canberra: Australian National University, 1997), pp. 71-72; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
87. In the submissions to the CRC, David Arms raised a dissenting voice against the goal of artificially gearing the electoral system to deliberately disadvantage extremist parties. "Ethnically-based parties have a right to exist", Arms responded, pointing out that the effort to devise an electoral system biased in favour of moderation was a "dangerous choice" because "it tends to force such groups to seek redress outside the democratic system". Arms also warned that alternative vote system encouraged opportunistic liaisons, citing Lakeman's verdict that the system has been "clearly often responsible unhappy effects on the relations between parties ... [involving] party combinations that are quite incongruous and dictated by nothing more than political opportunism", Arms, "Fiji's New Voting System", pp. 99 and 111.
88. The FLP consistently gave preferences even to the extremist Nationalist Party and Christian Democrats over their Indo-Fijian rivals the NFP or the mainstream Fijian SVT with the objective of defeating the SVT/NFP/UGP coalition. One of the architects of Fiji's new constitution, historian Brij Lal, writes that this "breached the spirit and intention of the preferential system of voting, where like minded parties trade preferences among themselves and put those they most disagree with last. Political expediency and cold-blooded ruthlessness triumphed", Lal, "Time to Change", p. 20. One might respond that the FLP and the opposition Fijian parties were "like-minded" in the sense of wanting above all to unseat the incumbent government and conclude that it was a false assumption on the part of the CRC that "like-mindedness" inevitably implied political moderation. Even the extremist Nationalist Party, after all, lodged its party-allocated voter preferences with the Elections' Office.
89. Lal, Another Way, p. 4-5.
90. "To Fijians", claimed co-author of the SVT's submission to the Constitutional Review and Naitasiri candidate for the VLV at the recent elections, Professor Asesela Ravuvu, "the Coalition victory in the 1987 elections seemed like a clever stunt performed with strings, mirrors and 'democracy'", Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, p. 87; see also Scarr, Politics of Illusion, pp. 36-38.
91. "To Fijians", claimed co-author of the SVT's submission to the Constitutional Review and Naitasiri candidate for the VLV at the recent elections, Professor Asesela Ravuvu, "the Coalition victory in the 1987 elections seemed like a clever stunt performed with strings, mirrors and 'democracy'", Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, p. 87; see also Scarr, Politics of Illusion, pp. 36-38.
92. Rabuka, quoted in Islands Business, September 1987, p. 7; Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, pp. 73-74.
93. Rabuka, quoted in Islands Business, September 1987, p. 7; Ravuvu, Facade of Democracy, pp. 73-74.
94. Fiji CRC, Fiji Islands, p. 325; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
95. Fiji CRC, Fiji Islands, p. 325; Lal, Another Way, p. 76.
96. Fiji Constitution 1997, Clause 99 (5), p. 60. This was not part of the CRC's original recommendations, see Lal, Another Way, pp. 93-96.