Election observation missions to the 2006 Fiji election (original) (raw)

Election Observation missions to the 2006 Fiji Elections

The Governance Program at USP initiated a number of election observer missions during 2004-2009: in Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. This chapter reviews observer misions to the 2006 general election in Fiji, although it summarizes the activities of the observer missions as a whole, rather than focusing solely on the USP effort.

The Fiji Election of 2014: Rights, Representation and Legitimacy in Fiji Politics

The Round Table, 2015

Fiji's 2014 election was its first in eight years, first under the 2013 constitution, and first using a common roll of electors with proportional representation. In the new parliament of 50 seats, the coup leader of 2006, Frank Bainimarama, emerged triumphant. His FijiFirst Party won 32 seats, with the Social Democratic Liberal Party, a successor party to earlier indigenous Fijian parties, winning 15 and the National Federation Party three. The election of the new parliament marked the end of Fiji's longest period under a military government since independence. How should the significance of these elections be judged in the context of Fiji's history? Do they represent the breakthrough to democratic stability that so many Fiji citizens have wanted for so long? Or are they just another phase of Fiji's turbulent politics, a democratic pause before another lurch into authoritarian government?

8. The great roadmap charade: Electoral issues in post-coup Fiji

Electoral issues were to figure prominently in the wake of Fiji's 2006 coup – as instruments in the ideological justification of the military takeover; as internationally required stepping stones on the 'roadmap' back to democracy; and as predominant features of the interim government's vision for social transformation. The coup-makers and their supporters justified the seizure of power on the grounds that the May 2006 election had been marred by ethnically biased ballot-rigging; that the preparations of the Elections Office had been gravely mismanaged; that the constitution had been violated; and that Qarase's Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party had abused its incumbent position in order to secure victory. Over the longer run, weaknesses in Fiji's electoral system were blamed for generating ethnic polarization since independence and for fostering an insular political control over the indigenous population by way of churches and chiefs. Only a wholesa...

Chapter 5: ‘Unfree and unfair’?: Media intimidation in Fiji’s 2014 elections

Chapter in Ratuva, S., and Lawson, S., (2016). The People Have Spoken: The 2014 Elections in Fiji. Canberra: Australian National University. Fiji was a media pariah among Pacific nations, as well as a political outcast, for much of the eight years after Voreqe Bainimarama’s military coup in December 2006. But while some media credibility was restored in the months leading up to the 2014 general elections and during the ballot itself, the elephant is still in the room: the 2010 Media Industry Development Decree (Fijian Government 2010). While this Decree remains in force, Fiji can hardly claim to have a truly free and fair media. Just seven months out from the September 17 elections, Fiji was ranked 107th out of 179 countries listed in the 2014 World Press Freedom Index prepared by the Paris-based global media freedom it was in many quarters during that year, and the promise of ‘free and fair’ elections by 30 September 2014. The elections gave Fiji’s ranking a further boost, rising 14 places to 93rd (RSF 2015). organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF). That ranking was an improvement on the previous year (RSF 2014a), rising 10 places from the 2013 ranking. The major reason for this improvement was the adoption of the new Constitution on 6 September 2013, criticised as it was in many quarters during that year, and the promise of ‘free and fair’ elections by 30 September 2014. The elections gave Fiji’s ranking a further boost, rising 14 places to 93rd (RSF 2015).

Domestic Election Observation. Key Concepts and International Standards

DRI Briefing Paper 52, 2015

The participation of civil society is essential: In particular, domestic election observer groups play a role in promoting electoral integrity and contribute to deter fraud, instil trust in the overall process, and provide an informed opinion on the electoral framework that can inform the work of other stakeholders – in particular, election administrators, political parties, and the media.