- Fijian municipal election, 2005
Municipal elections were held for 11 of Fiji's twelve
city andtown councils on22 October 2005 . In the capital city, however, elections for theSuva City Council were postponed till12 November , owing to the death of two candidates; the death of a candidate inLautoka also resulted in the postponement of the poll in one of the four wards.The newly-elected councils of most municipalities selected their
Mayor s on or before28 October . Suva and Lautoka will select their Mayors in mid-November, however, after voting has been completed. The Mayoralty changed hands in six municipalities, as party political control changed hands in the Councils ofLami ,Labasa ,Levuka ,Savusavu , andNasinu . InNadi , theNational Federation Party retained power, but decided to replace its Mayor.Results by municipality
Local as well as national issues featured prominently in the campaign and featured in the results. The results were considered a disappointment for the
United Fiji Party (SDL); their first-ever win inLami was more than off-set by their defeat inNasinu , whose population is much larger. TheFiji Labour Party (FLP) retained control ofLautoka and won control ofNasinu andLabasa , but failed to win any seats in Ba, prompting party leaderMahendra Chaudhry to cry foul. Chaudhry said he would challenge the result in the courts, alleging that the decision of the electoral commission to disqualify several FLP candidates on technicalities had resulted in the National Federation Party winning several seats unopposed. The NFP not only retained control of Ba, but also ofNadi and, in coalition with the SDL, ofSigatoka . Locally-organized "Ratepayers' Associations" won inNausori ,Tavua , andSavusavu , while inLevuka , the Balance Party, a purely municipal group, gained control of the Town Council.Ba Town The NFP won 14 of the 15 seats on the
Ba Town Council . The remaining seat was won by an independent candidate. The FLP complained that three of their candidates in theYalalevu ward had been disqualified on technicalities, allowing the NFP to win those seats by default, and on24 October , FLP leaderMahendra Chaudhry said that his party would challenge the decision in the courts. On5 November , the High Court dismissed the challenge. A subsequent electoral petition from the three unnominated FLP candidates was dismissed by the High Court on13 February 2006 . The court rejected the claim that theReturning Officer had been wrong to disqualify the candidates, and ordered the FLP to pay F$1,500 to the Ba Town Council to cover court costs. An earlier report fromFiji Television thatChaudhry and Singh Lawyers had been ordered to pay the court costs was incorrect, and Fiji Television apologized on15 February .The new council unanimously reelected
Praveen Bala as its Mayor on28 October . He has held the office for ten years.Labasa The FLP won control of the
Labasa Town Council for the first time, winning 10 of the 12 seats. The remaining two seats were won by the Ratepayers' Association, of the outgoing Mayor,Charan Jeath Singh . The new council chosePradeep Singh as its new Mayor on28 October , withLeslie Williams as his deputy.Lami The Ratepayers Association's 20-year domination of the
Lami Town Council ended when it secured only one of the 12 seats. The remaining 11 seats were won by the SDL. The new SDL-dominated council choseTevita Vuatalevu as its next Mayor on28 October .Jimi Savu was chosen as his deputy.Lautoka The election in
Lautoka took place in three of the city's four wards, the voting in theSimla ward having been postponed till12 November owing to the death of a candidate. The FLP made a clean sweep of theVeitari andTavakubu wards, winning all four seats in each wards; the 8 seats in total give the FLP majority control of the council, regardless of the result of the special election in Simla. The SDL won the four seats in theWaiyavi ward.The FLP won all four seats in the Simla ward on
12 November . The first session of the new city council, which was boycotted by the SDL councillors, electedRohit Kumar unopposed to the Mayoralty, withJesoni Balewai as his deputy.Levuka The Balance Party won 6 of the 8 seats on the
Levuka Town Council , defeating the SDL of outgoing MayorTaniela Bulivou , which won the remaining two seats. The new council choseGeorge Gibson as its new Mayor, with FatherTaniela Bola as his deputy; both are members of the Balance Party.Nadi The election produced little change from
2002 , with the NFP retaining its hold on theNadi Town Council . The NFP won 10 of the 15 seats, with the remaining 5 seats, all from theMartintar Ward, going to the FLP. This was an exact repeat of the scenario in 2002.Shalesh Mudliar andTimoci Koroiciqica , both of the NFP, were subsequently chosen by the new council to be Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively.Defeated FLP candidate
Surendra Singh filed alawsuit on14 December , seeking to invalidate the results for theNamuka Ward, which he contested. Claiming that the electoral roll failed to comply with the electoral act, he demanded a fresh poll in the Ward.Nasinu The SDL, led by Mayor
Joji Taholo since2000 , lost control of theNasinu Town Council , taking only 7 of the 21 seats. The other 14 seats were all won by the FLP. At a meeting boycotted by the SDL members, the new council electedRajeshwar Kumar as Mayor andDhirendra Prasad as his deputy on28 October . SDL General SecretaryJale Baba said that the party intended to challenge the results in the court.On
7 November , Baba told theFiji Village news service that four SDL councillors intended to apply for a court order on11 November to halt council operations, on the grounds that procedures were not followed in the run-up to the election. Lawyers, he said, had advised the SDL councillors not to participate in any council business. Having missed two sessions already, being absent from a third without leave would automatically forfeit their seats. They were confident, however, that the court would grant a stay to prevent any further meetings, he stated.Nausori All 12 seats on the
Nausori Town Council were all won by the Ratepayers' Association. The new council choseVikash Singh for the Mayoralty on28 October .Savusavu As in
2002 , the election for control of theSavusavu Town Council was fought entirely between locally organized groups with no ties to national political parties. The result was a defeat for the ruling Lighthouse Party of outgoing MayorPeni Naulu , which won only one seat on the 9-memberSavusavu Town Council . TheSavusavu Ratepayers and Citizens Party (SRC) won power, taking five seats, while the Sunrise Party won three. The new council choseRam Pillay of the SRC as Mayor, withShiu Shankar Singh of the Sunrise Party as his deputy.Sigatoka All 10 seats on the
Sigatoka Town Council were won by an SDL/NFP coalition. The new council reelected Ratu Isikeli Tasere as Mayor on2 November .Suva The death of two candidates prior to polling in October
2005 led to the postponement of the poll till12 November . The election for the 20-member city council was a three-way contest featuring the SDL, the NFP, and the FLP. The previous municipal election was won by a coalition comprising the SDL and the NFP, but the coalition collapsed in2004 amid disagreements over who should hold the Mayoralty, and for the first time, both parties contested all 20 seats - separately.The result was a landslide win for the SDL, which won an absolute majority of 12 seats on the council. It won all 5 seats in both the
Tamavua andMuanikau wards, and 2 seats in theSamabula ward. The other 3 Samabula seats were won by the FLP. The NFP retained its hold on the Central Ward, winning all 5 seats, but lost ground elsewhere.Reacting to the results, FLP leader
Mahendra Chaudhry said it was clear that the party would have to work hard ahead of the general election scheduled for2006 , to poll well in Suva City. He also announced his party's intention to mount a legal challenge to the results in the Samabula ward, claiming that most of the 42 rejected ballots were valid and would have netted the FLP more seats.The SDL standard-bearer, Ratu Peni Volavola, was reelected as Lord Mayor at the first meeting of the new council on
17 November .Josefa Gavidi , also of the SDL, was chosen as his deputy after an offer by the SDL to give the Deputy Lord Mayoralty to a member of the NFP was refused by that party.Tavua All 9 seats on the
Tavua Town Council were won by theTavua Ratepayers, Landowners, and Tenants Association . The new council unanimously reelectedChandra Singh , a lawyer who had held the Mayoralty for the past four years, to another year in office.Reaction to results
SDL General Secretary
Jale Baba blamed a rugby match for his party's poor showing in many parts of the country, including the most populous town of Nasinu. "We did not lose to the Fiji Labour party in Nasinu, we gave it away because our supporters were at the match," Baba opined.Both before and after the results were known, a number of parties had touted the municipal polls as holding significance for the parliamentary election, due in
2006 , either by showing particular trends or by indicating the regions in which political parties needed to campaign more effectively. However,Sandra Tarte , a Senior Lecturer in History and Politics at theUniversity of the South Pacific , cautioned against reading too much into the local elections. The mechanics of municipal elections differ from those of parliamentary elections, she said, and voter response would necessarily differ too.External links
* [http://www.fijivillage.com/municipal_elections/index.shtml Results at Fiji Village news service]
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