Bainimarama faces his toughest election yet

• Fijians will elect a new parliament on Wednesday.
• A contentious battle between two former coup leaders.
• Frank Bainimarama faces Sitiveni Rabuka.

Fijians will elect a new parliament on Wednesday after a contentious battle between two former coup leaders.

Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 2006, faces Sitiveni Rabuka, a former military commander who conducted two coups in the 1980s.

Bainimarama, 68, has tried to handle China-U.S. rivalry in the Pacific and championed climate change measures. He is seeking a third term in office.

His FijiFirst party won easily in 2014 but struggled in 2018.

Analysts say Bainimarama and his party face their “toughest election ever” because of rising living costs.

Fiji, a tourism-dependent nation impacted hard by COVID-19, has 5% inflation.

Official data say 900,000 of the country’s residents live in poverty.

The high cost of living will weigh on voters, says Shailendra Singh of the University of the South Pacific.

“Rightly or unjustly, the government will get most of the responsibility for it,” he said.

Indigenous Fijians feared losing political control to the economically dominant Indo-Fijian minority, who make up 35% of the country’s population and are descended from ethnic Indians imported to labor in the sugarcane fields during British colonization.

Rabuka staged the first two power grabs in 1987 after Indo-Fijians won a general election. He introduced a constitution in 1990 enshrining Indigenous Fijians’ political dominance and became prime minister in 1992.

Fiji replaced its 1990 constitution with a non-discriminatory one in 1997.

In 2000, a third coup followed the election of an Indo-Fijian prime minister two years earlier.

Bainimarama used simmering tensions in 2006 to seize control. After attaining power, he rapidly abolished opposing power structures like the ethnic Fijian Great Council of Chiefs and advocated for equal rights for all Fijians.

In 2013, a new constitution erased the country’s race-based political system, winning the former military chief popularity among the Indo-Fijian community.

This year, Bainimarama’s major opponent, Rabuka, has formed an alliance with the National Federation Party, which attracts a multi-racial vote.

This will be Bainimarama’s worst election, say pundits Lucy Albiston and Blake Johnson.

Despite no trustworthy pre-election surveys, Rabuka may win and form a coalition with Fiji’s National Federation Party. Rabuka has tried to shift his views on Indo-Fijian rights since the 1987 coup. This year, they wrote, “social issues and government services.”

Bainimarama, who called the election the “most crucial ever,” promised growth and prosperity.

The prime minister remarked during a campaign trip before a pre-election media ban, “We know the stakes: our recovery, our jobs, family support, strong leadership that serves everyone fairly.”

Rabuka projected victory, saying Fijians were ready for change.

“We’re close to ending 16 years of horrible dictatorship,” he assured supporters. We’ll send them to history’s garbage.

After Wednesday’s vote, observers say the military will be crucial.

Major General Jone Kalouniwai insists his men would “honor the democratic process by honoring the decision”

Also Read

Fijian PM Frank’s son charged of domestic abuse in Australia

The son of Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has been charged in...