8. The great roadmap charade: Electoral issues in post-coup Fiji (original) (raw)

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...