PM Bainimarama is dismissed as the opposition forms a coalition

• Fijian opposition parties have agreed to create a new coalition administration.
• A race-based electoral system was eliminated from the constitution in 2013.
• The Fiji First party were unable to win last week’s poll.

According to party leaders, Fijian opposition parties have agreed to create a new coalition administration, ending Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s nearly 16-year control over the island nation.

The Fiji First party of Mr. Bainimarama and the competing People’s Alliance, led by Sitiveni “Rambo” Rabuka, were unable to win last week’s poll.

The Social Democrat Liberal Party (SODELPA), which rules the country, supported Mr. Rabuka on Tuesday by a vote of 16 to 14.

The National Federation Party, which partnered with the People’s Alliance in a pre-election coalition, will also be a part of the new administration.

The future prime minister, Mr. Rabuka, who has been chosen, declared at a news conference that “[the people] have voted for change and we have given them that.”

The choice was made following two days of vigorous wooing by Fiji First and the People’s Alliance of the SODELPA and its three seats. The leader of SOPDELA, Viliame Rgoibulu Gavoka, has sought important ministerial positions in any future administration. Both the People’s Alliance and Fiji First received 26 seats.

The coalition’s announcement has regional implications on a larger scale. Both sides have expressed a wish to de-escalate their interactions with China, which has been rapidly expanding both its economic and diplomatic relationships around the Pacific.

After the outcome of the coalition vote was announced, a supporter of the new alliance told AFP from Mr. Rabuka’s campaign headquarters, “I feel like breaking open the ceiling and rejoicing guy.” “This repressive administration has been in power for 16 years.”

In order to solidify his reign, Mr. Bainimarama won two elections after seizing control in a coup in 2006. Human rights organisations have long charged him with stifling free expression by intimidating his detractors and censoring the media.

He has, however, elevated his international image in recent years due to his activism for addressing climate change. The 68-year-old has previously stated that he will respect the election results, but he has not yet made any remarks regarding the end of his premiership.

Mr. Rabuka, a former international rugby player, led Fiji’s first coup in 1987 and held the position of prime minister from 1992 until 1999.

Police questioned him on Friday after he requested that the military get involved in the election. Allegations of poll fraud have stained the results.

Rivalry between the indigenous Fijian and ethnic Indian communities has been at the heart of most of the political unrest in the country since Fiji obtained independence from the UK in 1970.

A race-based electoral system that favoured native Fijians over the nation’s sizable Indian community was eliminated from the constitution in 2013.

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