Plea to not to enter into a coalition with FijiFirst
THE son and namesake of the late prime minister and Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua founder and leader, Laisenia Qarase, laid bare his emotions in a video where he pleaded with the party not to enter into a coalition with FijiFirst, which is two seats short of forming the next government.
Laisenia Qarase Jr’s message on the ‘Fiji Remembers the Late Hon Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase’ Facebook page, was directed at SODELPA board members.
His message came as speculation on social media suggested that SODELPA, which held the “balance of power” when the final results of the 2022 General Election were announced, had decided to support FijiFirst.
He called on the board to hear the voice of his family, and those of its supporters who wanted an end to FijiFirst’s 16-year rule.
He also said the differences the party had with The People’s Alliance were small, when taking into account the concerns of the iTaukei community and the future generations.
He urged them to make good decisions if they cared about those who voted for them and form a coalition with The People’s Alliance.
Mr Qarase said his family had not got over how their late father was treated.
“We pray that you will make things easier and tell the whole of Fiji that the coalition will be with PA party so that the FFP can be defeated and we, the iTaukei, can be free.
During a media conference, yesterday SODELPA leader Viliame Gavoka acknowledged the message, adding it would be placed before the party’s management board for consideration.
“I can assure you that we will take that on very seriously, they are the founding family for SODELPA,” Mr Gavoka said.
“There are quite a lot of similar requests for both sides of the party. “The decisions, like I said, we are very happy that we have the management board, this can be shared with the board and they’ll deliberate as a group to make this kind of - they’re very - difficult decisions, I can assure you.
“So I tell you it’s not an easy time for us.”
Following the announcement of the Final National Results Tally, it became clear that no party had over 50 per cent votes to form government comfortably.
Thus, a coalition is likely between either FijiFirst party and SODELPA, or between SODELPA and the PA/National Federation Party (NFP) coalition.
All four parties have crossed the 5 per cent threshold limit.
The likely seat allocations are FijiFirst and the PA/NFP with 26 seats each and SODELPA with three seats.