Fiji Islands

Country comprising 844 islands and islets in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about 100 of which are inhabited.

Government

The 1990 constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government with a two-chamber legislature, consisting of an elected 70-member House of Representatives, serving a five-year term, and an appointed 34-member Senate, serving a six-year term. The president, who is head of state, is appointed by a hereditary Great Council of Chiefs for a five-year term. The prime minister (who must be an indigenous Fijian) is appointed by the president as head of government, based on support in the House.

The ethnic composition of both chambers is preserved in that indigenous Fijians have 37 guaranteed seats in the House of Representatives and 24 (appointed by the Great Council of Chiefs) in the Senate; citizens of Indian descent have 27 guaranteed seats in the House; other races have five guaranteed seats in the House; and the island of Rotuma has one guaranteed seat in each chamber. Nine seats in the Senate are filled at the discretion of the president, who must have particular regard for minority communities. The complicated arrangement seeks to preserve elements of the Westminster-style parliamentary system which preceded the 1990 constitution, while ensuring that all ethnic communities are properly represented. There is a provision in the constitution which prevents the military from taking control.

History
Originally inhabited by Melanesian and Polynesian peoples, Fiji's first European visitor was Abel Tasman in 1643. Fiji became a British possession in 1874 and achieved full independence within the Commonwealth in 1970. Before independence there had been racial tension between Indians, descended from workers brought from India in the late 19th century, and Fijians, so the constitution incorporated an electoral system that would ensure racial balance in the House of Representatives.

Ethnic divisions
Traditionally the Fijians support the Alliance Party, led by Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. The Indians support the National Federation Party, led by Siddiq Koya. The main divisions between the two have centred on land ownership, with the Fijians owning more than 80% of the land and defending their traditional rights, and the Indians demanding greater security of land tenure. The Fijian Labour Party was formed in 1985.

Republic
The general election in April 1987 resulted in an Indian-dominated coalition, led by Dr Timoci Bavadra. An attempted coup in May 1987, led by Col Sitiveni Rabuka, was abandoned after intervention by the governor general and the Great Council of Chiefs. After a second successful coup in September-October 1987, also led by Rabuka, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain accepted the resignation of the governor general, thereby relinquishing her role as head of state and making Fiji a republic. A new constitution was introduced in 1990. Following the first elections under the new constitution in May 1992, Sitiveni Rabuka, who had relinquished his army post, was appointed prime minister. President Ganilau died in December 1993 and was succeeded by Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Rabuka and the FPP were re-elected in 1994.

Fiji was readmitted to the Commonwealth in September 1997, after the constitution had been changed, in July, so as not to discriminate against the ethnic Indian majority.

The economy contracted by around 2% in both 1997 and 1998, mainly as a result of a slump in sugar production and gold mining.

New governing coalition
In December 1998 a new governing coalition was formed by the ruling Fijian Political Party (SVT), the Indian-dominated National Federation Party (NFP), and the United General Party (UGP), ahead of a general election scheduled for May 1999. In January 1999, President Mara was sworn in for an additional five-year term. In May, Mahendra Chaudhry became Fiji's first prime minister of Indian descent. In September 1999 the multi-ethnic governing coalition was destabilised by bomb blasts in the capital, Suva, and by the deputy prime minister, Adi Kuini Vuikaba Speed, being ousted as leader of his Fijian Association Party (FAP). He was restored to the position in November 1999. Opposition politicians criticized the multi-ethnic government's policies on the balance of power between president and prime minister, believing that the shift of power proposed in a government bill in February 2000 would diminish the traditional rights of the indigenous Melanesian community. The government was criticized again in April 2000 by the revived extremist Melanesian nationalist group, Taukei, which claimed that the government was following policies and promoting land use which were detrimental to Fijians.

2000 coup
An attempted coup, perpetrated by businessman George Speight, launched the capital, Suva, into rioting in May 2000. Masked civilians, led by Speight, stormed parliament and took the prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and the entire cabinet hostage. The takeover attempt was said to be triggered by widespread grievances held by the majority indigenous population. In capitulation to the rebels' demands, the powerful Great Council of Chiefs offered to dismiss Chaudhry's government and ban Indo-Fijians (such as Chaudhry) from power. The military exploited the sacking of the government to seize power. When President Kamisese Mara was forced to step down, the head of Fiji's armed forces, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, took over as the new leader, declared martial law, and revoked the 1997 democratic constitution. This led to international condemnation and the threat from Commonwealth countries that, unless democracy was restored, trade and aid sanctions would be imposed, and Fiji suspended from the Commonwealth.

On 9 July 2000 an agreement was signed which agreed to the release of Prime Minister Chaudhry and the ministers of his cabinet, who had been held hostage since the military coup in May. They were released on 13 July, and soon after, the military handed executive power over to a new president, chosen by the rebel leader, George Speight. The new president was named as Ratu Josefa Iloilo, a former vice-president, with Laisenia Qarase as prime minister. The rebels negotiated a total amnesty for themselves, and succeeded in one of their primary aims, which was to have the democratic constitution revoked formally, and to reduce the rights of the Indo-Fijian minority which were afforded by that constitution. The amnesty was revoked, however, as George Speight refused to give up his gang's stolen weapons as part of the bargain. In August, Speight and 12 of his supporters were charged with conspiring to overthrow the lawfully elected government. Meanwhile, ex-premier Chaudhry visited New Zealand, India, and the United Kingdom as part of a campaign to restore democracy.

Trouble flared again in November, when troops who had supported the coup in May made a failed attempt to take over the country's main barracks and kidnap Bainimarama. Soon after, the high court ruled that Chaudhry's deposed government should be reinstated. The army appealed, but in March 2001, the appeal court reaffirmed the ruling, and the government resigned. President Iloilo did not resign, but was re-appointed president by Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs. Iloilo then re-appointed the resigned government as an interim government, with fresh elections announced for August.

In August, the treason trial of George Speight was adjourned until 2002, removing a political flashpoint a day before the country was to vote to restore democracy. The adjournment meant Speight could contest the election from a prison cell as a candidate for the indigenous Fijian's Matanitu Vanua (MV; Conservative Alliance). Both Speight and Mahendra Chaudhry were elected to parliament. Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase formed a government composed entirely of ethnic Fijians in early September, and Fijians of Indian descent complained that they had been unlawfully excluded. The Court of Appeal upheld this view in February 2002, and declared the government unconstitutional.

Speight sentenced
George Speight was sentenced to death for treason on 18 February 2002. However, President Iloilo later commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The reduction in the sentence was expected, as the Fiji Islands had not executed a criminal for 40 years.