Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Looks Truly Multiracial in Latest Opinion Poll
There should be no more debate about which political party is genuinely multiracial.
It’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s FijiFirst based on the outcome of the latest Fiji Sun-Western Force public opinion poll.
This is the third monthly survey since Sitiveni Rabuka’s The People’s Alliance Party was registered.
Mr Bainimarama and Mr Rabuka are still running neck in the Preferred Prime Minister and Party stakes. Both have regained grounds lost in the previous poll with Mr Rabuka maintaining his slight lead.
What is significant is the clear emerging trend that shows FijiFirst is the genuine article on the subject of multiracialism. All the parties claim to be multiracial but the survey respondents tell a different story.
The People’s Alliance leads the pack with 361 votes from 1000 polled. It was overwhelmingly supported by 331 ITaukei. The remaining votes comprised 24 Indo-Fijians and six of other races.
Not far behind is FijiFirst with 352 votes, consisting of 162 ITaukei, 117 Indo-Fijians and 73 others. The statistical breakdown closely reflects our current demographics.
Both parties have hit the 30s percentage points again.
The People’s Alliance jumped from 27.9 per cent in the previous poll to 36.1 per cent better than the 35.9 per cent it recorded in the first poll. FijiFirst went up to 35.2 per cent from 27.2 per cent in the previous poll and better than 32.2 per cent in the first poll.”
While Party leader Viliame Gavoka and SODELPA have retained their third spot they have lost ground, dropping from 22.7 per cent in the previous poll to 12.3 per cent. This is lower than the 15.3 per cent they got in the first poll. Their losses have been FijiFirst and The People’s Alliance’s gains .
If there is another party that comes close to FijiFirst on multiracialism it would be SODELPA. It picked up 89 iTaukei, 20 Indo-Fijians and 14 others.
There’s no doubt it lost a fair number of its iTaukei support to its arch enemy, Mr Rabuka’s party which it regards as a breakaway party.
Savenaca Narube and his Unity Fiji Party are the significant bolters in this poll. For the first time they have managed to displace Biman Prasad’s National Federation Party, moving up from fifth to claim the fourth spot. Although they have slipped from 9.8 per cent in the previous poll to 8.5 per cent they have shown resilience to hang in there when the situation was fragile and it looked as if they would implode.
But the same cannot be said of the NFP. The downward trajectory of their fortunes seems ominous. Can leader Mr Prasad arrest the decline and turn it around and up. They have dropped from 10 per cent in the previous poll to seven per cent.
Most of their voters are IndoFijians and it appears the party has not been able to find meaningful traction with iTaukei voters despite the intense efforts of its MPs Pio Tikoduadua and Lenora Qereqeretabua.
With all due respect to our oldest aspirant Mahendra Chaudhry, who turns 80 next year, maybe it’s time to call it quits. It seems he and his Fiji Labour Party are permanently stuck at the bottom.
They have slid from 2.4 per cent in the previous poll to 0.7 per cent. At this rate they are on the road to political oblivion.
To have a better perspective of the poll this is the racial breakdown of the 1000 respondents: 666 iTaukei or 66 per cent, 206 Indo Fijians or 20.6 per cent and 128 others or 12.8 per cent.
The strong iTaukei representation is reflected in the voters for Mr Rabuka and his party,
It could be attributed to the emphasis Mr Rabuka is giving on iTaukei.