Elections in Fiji: Restoration of the Balance in September 1977
Author(s)
Premdas, Ralph R.
Abstract
The traditional balance in contemporary Fiji politics among the indigenous Fijians, who control the government and own 83% of the land; the Indians, who dominate the sugar industry and intermediate size businesses; and the Europeans, who control large businesses and financial institutions, was upset in the March-April 1977 elections when the victory of the Indian-dominated National Federation Party (NFP) threatened to overthrow traditional Fijian control of the government under Prime Minister Ratu Sir K. K. T. Mara and the Alliance Party. The emergence of the Fijian Nationalist Party (FNP) headed by ex-Alliance Party parliamentarian Sakiasi Butadroka, reduced Indian support for the Alliance, and the open collaboration of the NFP and FNP against the Alliance caused the election imbalance to occur. Balance was restored in the September 1977 election, but the experience has pointed up the precariousness of a factional system based on ethnic groups in a society which claims to hold democratic and egalitarian principles.
