Initial gains for Mahendra Chaudhry

By Amit Baruah

SUVA, SEPT. 4. The first results in this communally-split nation have gone to Mr. Mahendra Chaudhry's Fiji Labour Party (FLP) and the hardline Soqosoqeto Duvata Ni Lewenivanua (SDL) led by the caretaker Prime Minister, Mr. Laisenia Qarase.

Of the results declared so far in the agonisingly slow count, the FLP got 10 seats from its stronghold in the western cane growers' belt while the SDL picked up two Fijian communal seats and the United General Party (UGP) one.

Results from the most ``open'' (25) and ``Fijian communal'' (23) seats are awaited. Of the FLP's 10 seats, eight are from ``Indian communal'' (total 19) and two from the open category.

The National Federation Party (NFP), a more moderate Indo-Fijian party which advocates greater cooperation with Fijian parties, has fared badly - it was wiped out in the May 1999 general elections and the first results show this performance may well be repeated.

There have been complaints of a large number of ``invalid'' votes in the country's complicated preferential vote system, which has baffled many voters. The Elections Supervisor, Mr. Walter Riggamoto, told reporters there were a number of blank ballot papers - which in, his opinion, were protest votes.

Early trends also indicate the elections are unlikely to lead to a stable Government, one in which every citizen has confidence. In that sense, the current elections may further deepen the fault-lines in this racially-divided nation.

``It's a bit worrying. The Labour Party has clearly retained its support, but this is largely based on Indo-Fijian votes. Ethnic Fijians have rallied in support of the SDL and the Conservative Alliance (the May 2000 coup leader, George Speight is running on the CA ticket),'' Prof. Vijay Naidu, a sociologist at the University of South Pacific, told this correspondent today.

There is every indication that if Mr. Chaudhry's FLP doesn't get an absolute majority in the 71-member House of Representatives, an alliance of Fijian parties, being cobbled together by the Methodist Church, may be asked to form the Government.

Mr. Qarase said on Fiji TV he felt there was something wrong with a democracy which gave just 23 seats to the Fijians, who constituted 51 per cent of the population and owned 84 per cent of the land. He also said the concept of ``open seats'' (where both ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijians can contest) had ``failed''. ``Multi-racialism cannot be imposed from the top,'' he said.

Asked about the possibility of another coup taking place, he said it would be up to the future to decide. He confirmed that talks were going on among Fijian parties to form a possible coalition Government.

There is little doubt that whatever the nature of the Government that comes into office, Fiji's troubles are far from over. Political stability and co-operative functioning may well remain elusive.

The international community is ``happy'' that the electoral process has been ``proper'' - but the elections appear unlikely to provide a resolution to the politics of divisiveness.

In a recent article, Ms. Teresia Teaiwa, lecturer at New Zealand's Victoria University, argued: ``Fiji needed another election like a hole in the head. What is needed during this interim/caretaker period was no-nonsense leaders that would neither pander to nationalist greed nor suffer Bollywood machismo; leaders that eschewed quick-fix cash schemes and recognised the benefits of making long-term investments in education, health, sustainable rural development....''

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