PM Bainimarama starts New Year on a positive note closing the gap on Rabuka who is now in front by only 0.5 per cent in new poll
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has closed in on Sitiveni Rabuka as he begins his fight back to reclaim the top spot in election year.
The final public opinion poll for 2021 conducted by Western Force Research for Fiji Sun revealed that only 0.5 per cent separated the two leaders.
The poll is of 1000 eligible voters. It also shows Mr Bainimarama and FijiFirst are the only ones with true multiracial support.
Mr Rabuka’s early lead has been gradually cut down by Mr Bainimarama.
This is attributed to the favourable impact of a number of significant events which included the:
Reopening of our international border, bringing in tourists and returning jobs to thousands of workers in the hotel and hospitality industry. This in turn has generated more economic activities for secondary industries, reviving commercial activities that were brought to their knees by the global pandemic.
Changes and initiatives by the iTaukei Land Trust Board and increased income for landowners in the use of their land for forestry and commercial purposes.
The realisation that the equal distribution of lease money is still the best option for ordinary iTaukei landowners.
If the Great Council of Chiefs is restored, as Rabuka wants they may lose this privilege and the chiefs will get the lion’s share as they used to before Mr Bainimarama changed it.
Appointment of Adi Tema Savou, Marama Taukei Naua, chief of Saunaka, in Nadi, as the new president of FijiFirst. She replaces Tui Macuata Ratu Wiliame Katonivere who is now President of Fiji.
They enhanced the enabling environment that still recognises chiefs as traditional and national leaders despite the abolition of the GCC. They are powerful examples and stand as living testimonies that chiefs are not forgotten.
They also counter the rise of Mr Rabuka in the west and the inroads he has gained in institutions like the Bose ni Momo (Ba chiefs lobby) because of his call for the restoration of the GCC and their lease money privileges.
Perhaps, the most effective counter to Mr Rabuka’s rapid jump in the popularity stakes is revisiting his past.
Many of the young people who have jumped on his bandwagon may not be aware of his record since he led the two brutal military coups of 1987.
As the election campaign intensifies, he is expected to come under intense scrutiny by his opponents who will dredge his past and question his position on a number of issues.
It is a known fact that his past views on indigenous land and the chiefly system were different to his current positions. That could cause a dent in his popularity. At the moment he is using his charisma and experience to declare he is the new Rabuka, remorseful of what he did.
Whether that would be enough to sustain his popularity would become evident in the first quarter of this year.
His opponents in the second tier have gained from his lost ground.
Unity Fiji and its leader Savennaca Narube have hit double digits for the first time at 10.7 per cent and appear to have a firm grip on the third spot displacing SODELPA and it’s party leader Viliame Gavoka at 8.8 per cent now in fourth place and National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad at a lowly 7.3 per cent in fourth spot.
Fiji Labour Party and its leader Mahendra Chaudhry have reappeared at 3.9 per cent after disappearing in the previous poll.
But they, like Prasad’s NFP, have little substance.