Stability Once Again
OCTOBER 1 6- 3 1 , 1 97 7
After almost eight months of political turmoil, calm has returned to the 300- odd South Pacific islands of the Fiji group. When Fiji went to the polls for the second time this year late in September, it was widely recognised as the most crucial election in the history of this multi- racial society, particularly for the little more than half ( 272,000 out of a total of 535,000) of its population who are of Indian origin. The election results, announced to a tense nation on September 26, gave the ruling Alliance Party a landslide majority of 36 seats in a 52strong house of representatives. The opposition National Federation Party ( NFP) had split down the middle between two warring factions, fielding rival candidates. This predominantly Indian backward party saw its previous strength reduced to 12 seats for one faction and three for the other. There was one independent in the new Parliament. A sigh of relief went up all around, as the region’s leading daily, the 116- year- old Fiji Times, said in an editorial: “This should mean, at least, five years of political stability.” A Westminster- style parliamentary democracy, Fiji has a complex voting system designed to guard against the domination by any particular racial group merely because of greater numbers. Of the 52 members in the Lower House, 12 Fijians ( the indigenous people of Melanesian stock), 12 Indians and 3 General Electors ( Chinese, Europeans and other races) are chosen through communal voting.