2001 Fijian general election
# 2001 Fijian general election

General elections were held in Fiji in August and September 2001. The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party won 18 of the 23 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians and one of three "general electorates" set aside for Fiji's European, Chinese, and other minorities. It also won 13 of the 25 "open electorates," so-called because they are open to candidates of any race and are elected by universal suffrage. The remaining five ethnic Fijian seats, and one open electorate, were won by the Conservative Alliance, one of whom was George Speight who had led the putsch against the lawful government the year before. Chaudhry's Labour Party won all 19 Indo-Fijian seats and eight open electorates. The New Labour Unity Party, formed by defectors from the FLP, won one general electorate and one open electorate. The three remaining seats (one general electorate, one open electorate, and the Rotuman Islanders' seat) were won by minor parties and independent candidates.

## Background

The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a High Court decision on 15 November 2000, following the failure of the political upheaval in which the government had been deposed and the constitution suspended in May that year. On 1 March 2001, the Appeal Court upheld the decision. An election to restore democracy was held in September 2001. In what was one of Fiji's most bitterly fought elections ever, the newly formed Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua of the interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase narrowly defeated the Fiji Labour Party of deposed former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

The FLP had been hurt by leadership bickering in the wake of the coup, and the subsequent defection of a number of its high-profile members from the ethnic Fijian community, including Tupeni Baba, the former Deputy Prime Minister. The mutual refusal of the FLP and the National Federation Party, the only other political party with significant Indo-Fijian support, to reach a preference-swapping deal had also worked against both parties. (In Fiji's system of transferable voting, any two or more candidates in a particular constituency can have their votes combined, unless the electors specify a different option by ranking the candidates numerically in order of their preference).

## Opinion polls

### Approval ratings

| Pollster(s) | Date | Sample size | Chaudhry | Chaudhry | Qarase | Qarase |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pollster(s) | Date | Sample size | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Satisfied | Dissatisfied |
| The Fiji Times | May 2000 | | 54% | — | — | — |

## Results

| Party | Party | Open constituencies | Open constituencies | Open constituencies | Communal constituencies | Communal constituencies | Communal constituencies | Total seats |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Total seats |
| | Fiji Labour Party | 113,981 | 35.20 | 8 | 112,316 | 34.46 | 19 | 27 |
| | Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua | 83,095 | 25.66 | 13 | 86,132 | 26.42 | 19 | 32 |
| | National Federation Party | 32,658 | 10.09 | 1 | 32,959 | 10.11 | 0 | 1 |
| | Conservative Alliance-Matanitu Vanua | 30,313 | 9.36 | 1 | 34,101 | 10.46 | 5 | 6 |
| | Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei | 20,560 | 6.35 | 0 | 14,523 | 4.46 | 0 | 0 |
| | New Labour Unity Party | 17,230 | 5.32 | 1 | 11,735 | 3.60 | 1 | 2 |
| | Bei Kai Viti | 6,250 | 1.93 | 0 | 7,828 | 2.40 | 0 | 0 |
| | Fijian Association Party | 4,430 | 1.37 | 0 | 3,850 | 1.18 | 0 | 0 |
| | Party of National Unity | 1,937 | 0.60 | 0 | 4,481 | 1.37 | 0 | 0 |
| | Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party | 1,493 | 0.46 | 0 | 2,393 | 0.73 | 0 | 0 |
| | Dodonu ni Taukei | 843 | 0.26 | 0 | 188 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 |
| | Justice and Freedom Party | 176 | 0.05 | 0 | 326 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | Party of the Truth | 35 | 0.01 | 0 | 220 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 |
| | United General Party | | | | 3,260 | 1.00 | 1 | 1 |
| | General Voters Party | | | | 1,904 | 0.58 | 0 | 0 |
| | Lio 'On Famör Rotuma Party | | | | 1,803 | 0.55 | 0 | 0 |
| | Christian Democratic Alliance | | | | 337 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | Girmit Heritage Party | | | | 50 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independents | 10,818 | 3.34 | 1 | 7,548 | 2.32 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | Total | 323,819 | 100.00 | 25 | 325,954 | 100.00 | 46 | 71 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 323,819 | 88.09 | | 325,954 | 88.13 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 43,773 | 11.91 | | 43,917 | 11.87 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 367,592 | 100.00 | | 369,871 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 470,807 | 78.08 | | 468,691 | 78.92 | | |
| Source: Psephos |||||||||

### Communal constituency results

**Fijian constituencies**

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua | 83,506 | 50.09 | 18 |
| | Conservative Alliance-Matanitu Vanua | 33,776 | 20.26 | 5 |
| | Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei | 14,271 | 8.56 | 0 |
| | Bei Kai Viti | 7,828 | 4.70 | 0 |
| | New Labour Unity Party | 7,011 | 4.21 | 0 |
| | Party of National Unity | 4,481 | 2.69 | 0 |
| | Fiji Labour Party | 3,857 | 2.31 | 0 |
| | Fijian Association Party | 3,528 | 2.12 | 0 |
| | Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party | 2,393 | 1.44 | 0 |
| | National Federation Party | 817 | 0.49 | 0 |
| | Christian Democratic Alliance | 337 | 0.20 | 0 |
| | Party of the Truth | 220 | 0.13 | 0 |
| | Dodonu ni Taukei | 188 | 0.11 | 0 |
| | Independents | 4,504 | 2.70 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 166,717 | 100.00 | 23 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 166,717 | 89.10 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 20,394 | 10.90 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 187,111 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 239,124 | 78.25 | |
| Source: Psephos |||||

**Indo-Fijian constituencies**

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Fiji Labour Party | 108,459 | 74.58 | 19 |
| | National Federation Party | 32,142 | 22.10 | 0 |
| | New Labour Unity Party | 3,731 | 2.57 | 0 |
| | Justice and Freedom Party | 326 | 0.22 | 0 |
| | Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua | 149 | 0.10 | 0 |
| | Girmit Heritage Party | 50 | 0.03 | 0 |
| | Fijian Association Party | 8 | 0.01 | 0 |
| | Independents | 565 | 0.39 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 145,430 | 100.00 | 19 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 145,430 | 86.81 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 22,097 | 13.19 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 167,527 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 209,046 | 80.14 | |
| Source: Psephos |||||

**General constituencies**

| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | United General Party | 3,260 | 32.45 | 1 |
| | Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua | 2,477 | 24.66 | 1 |
| | General Voters Party | 1,904 | 18.95 | 0 |
| | New Labour Unity Party | 993 | 9.89 | 1 |
| | Conservative Alliance-Matanitu Vanua | 325 | 3.24 | 0 |
| | Fijian Association Party | 314 | 3.13 | 0 |
| | Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei | 252 | 2.51 | 0 |
| | Independents | 520 | 5.18 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 10,045 | 100.00 | 3 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 10,045 | 91.50 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 933 | 8.50 | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 10,978 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 14,950 | 73.43 | |
| Source: Psephos |||||

**Rotuman constituency**

| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| | Marieta Rigamoto | Independent | 1,959 | 52.07 |
| | Riamkau Tiu Livino | Lio 'On Famör Rotuma Party | 1,803 | 47.93 |
| Total | Total | Total | 3,762 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 3,762 | 88.41 |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 493 | 11.59 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 4,255 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 5,571 | 76.38 |
| Source: Psephos |||||

### Seats changing hands

This does not include seats that changed candidates but not parties, defections or seats held by members not seeking re-election.

| Seat | Pre-election | Pre-election | Pre-election | Pre-election | Post-election | Post-election | Post-election | Post-election |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Seat | Party | Party | Member | Percentage | Percentage | Member | Party | Party |
| Ba East (Fijian) | | PANU | Ponipate Lesavua | 52.55 | 21.28 | Epeli Seavula | SDL | |
| Ba West (Fijian) | | PANU | Meli Bogileka | 65.53 | 60.12 | Tomasi Sauqaqa | SDL | |
| Bua (Fijian) | | VLV | Mitieli Bulanauca | 54.74 | 61.08 | Josateki Vula | CAMV | |
| Cakaudrove East (Fijian) | | SVT | Inoke Kubuabola | 78.66 | 56.09 | Naiqama Lalabalavu | CAMV | |
| Cakaudrove West (Fijian) | | SVT | Kinijoji Maivalili | 68.94 | 21.28 | Rakuita Vakalalabure | CAMV | |
| Cunningham (Open) | | Labour | Joeli Kalou | 60.14 | 56.19 | Solomone Naivalu | SDL | |
| Kadavu (Fijian) | | SVT | James Ah Koy | 83.95 | 54.65 | Komodo Yabaki | SDL | |
| Nadroga (Open) | | Labour | Mosese Volavola | 55.22 | 54.15 | Jonetani Galuinadi | SDL | |
| Nadroga Navosa (Fijian) | | FAP | Leone Tusiowaqa | 50.65 | 53.22 | Pita Nacuva | SDL | |
| Naitasiri (Fijian) | | FAP | Peceli Rinakama | 71.21 | 75.61 | Ilaita Tuisese | SDL | |
| Nasinu Rewa (Open) | | Labour | John Ali | 50.68 | 51.11 | Peniasi Silatolu | SDL | |
| Nasinu Urban (Fijian) | | FAP | Joji Uluinakauvadra | 50.43 | 65.73 | Emasi Qovu | SDL | |
| Nausori Naitasiri (Open) | | Labour | Lavenia Padarath | 50.04 | 56.92 | Asaeli Masilaca | SDL | |
| North Eastern (General) | | GVP | Leo Barry Smith | 52.59 | 60.41 | David Christopher | SDL | |
| North West Urban (Fijian) | | PANU | Akanisi Koroitamana | 67.23 | 68.40 | Joji Banuve | SDL | |
| Ra (Fijian) | | PANU | Eloni Goneyali | 52.98 | 51.23 | Tomasi Viletilovoni | SDL | |
| Samabula Tamavua (Open) | | Labour | Tupeni Baba | 58.37 | 56.36 | Manoa Dobui | SDL | |

## Aftermath

Controversy continued after the 2001 election, with Prime Minister Qarase finding reasons, which many considered to be pretexts, for not implementing the power-sharing provisions of the Constitution, which required that every political party with more than 8 seats in the House of Representatives must be proportionally represented in the Cabinet. On 18 July 2003, the Supreme Court of Fiji ruled that Qarase's exclusion of the Labour Party from the Cabinet was unconstitutional, and demanded that the situation be rectified. Appeals, counter-appeals, and negotiations delayed the implementation of the order. In June 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the Labour Party was entitled to 14 out of 30 Cabinet posts. Qarase has said that he would abide by the ruling, but his refusal to include Chaudhry in the Cabinet lineup continued to stall negotiations, until the FLP announced in November that it was no longer interested in participating in the Qarase-led government.

