Fiji’s military to keep order after elections
Tensions rise amid unclear poll results
Fiji’s military will assist police in maintaining “security and stability”, the Pacific island’s police commissioner said yesterday, citing growing concerns of racial tensions after last week’s election delivered a hung parliament.
Fiji is waiting for its president to recall parliament so lawmakers can vote for a new prime minister after a national election last week showed no party received a clear majority.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s Fiji First has not conceded defeat, while a coalition of three parties say they have a combined majority and have agreed on People’s Alliance leader Sitiveni Rabuka as prime minister.
Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho said he met yesterday with Mr Bainimarama, Minister for Defence and Policing Inia Seruiratu and the military commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai and they came to an agreement for military personnel “to assist Police with the maintenance of law and order, amidst growing concerns of racial tension”.
“While the Army and Navy personnel have been called in to assist, Police will continue to lead the overall security operations,” he said in a statement on social media.
In a statement on Facebook, Mr Bainimarama said the military “has been deployed to complement the Police in maintaining law and order”.
“Reports of harassment suffered by our citizens and violence targeted at Indo-Fijian homes and businesses in the wake of the election are deeply disturbing,” he said.
Opposition parties have disputed reports by police that businesses or homes of Fiji’s large ethnic Indian population had been stoned in the wake of the election, and have called for evidence of this.
Mr Rabuka wrote on Twitter that he urged the people of Fiji to “respect the rule of law, and to allow the political process to continue without hindrance”.
COUP HISTORY
The Pacific island nation, with a population of 900,000, had a history of military coups before constitutional reform in 2013 to remove a race-based voting system that favoured indigenous
Fijians over ethnic Indians.
Mr Bainimarama has been prime minister for 16 years, taking power in a coup, and later winning two democratic elections in 2014 and 2018. Mr Rabuka is also a former coup leader.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand was “aware of the statement from Fiji’s Police Commissioner”.
“We encourage all parties to allow the constitutional process to play out,” she said in a statement.
Fiji’s President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere has until Jan 2 to summon
parliament, media outlet Fiji Village reported, citing a letter sent by Mr Katonivere to the coalition partners. The prime minister must be voted in by more than 50% of lawmakers on the parliament floor.
The Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), a power-broker holding three seats in the hung parliament, supports policies favouring indigenous Fijians and on Tuesday signed a coalition agreement with Mr Rabuka’s People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party.
However, SODELPA’s board must
meet again after the validity of the decision to back the coalition was challenged by the party’s general secretary and Fiji’s Supervisor of Elections.
At a media conference earlier yesterday, National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad said Fiji First’s secretary general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who was the attorney general in Mr Bainimarama’s government, was “trying to create fear in the minds of people” and should accept the election result.
“He is not accepting they lost this election, people voted for change,” Mr Prasad said.