Fijian academic says first deregistration will create “complex” political situation

During the 2014 campaign, Bainimarama (right) wore a blue hat and a blue T-shirt, and Said Khayyum (left). (File photo)
photo: Royal Bank of New Zealand

Fiji’s political landscape is expected to change significantly on Friday as the largest party in parliament is set to be deregistered.

A decision on the future of the FijiFirst party led by convicted former prime minister Frank Bainimarama will be announced after a 4pm local time deadline, with the party likely to be deregistered.

It has reached this stage 16 Fiji First MPs join Government in voting for big pay rise Despite a public outcry, councillors agreed.

Therefore, FijiFirst, which has 26 MPs 17 MPs fired for not following party directives – The decision exposed conflict within the party as the sacked lawmakers refused to step down and challenged the decision.

The Registrar of Political Parties then issued a directive to FijiFirst to amend its constitution by June 28 because the party had no internal conflict resolution mechanism, in contravention of the Political Parties Act.

But soon after, all founding members and officials of FijiFirst, including Bainimarama and his Attorney General Aiyaz Sayyid Khayyum, Resign And protested to the party.

Political commentators called it a “shocking turn of events” that lacked “logic”.

Professor Steven Latois
photo: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis

Macmillan Brown Pacific Studies Centre deputy vice-chancellor and distinguished professor Steven Ratuwa said the deregistration of Fiji First would create a “complex situation” for the Coalition Government.

“Fiji First MPs will no longer belong to any political party, which means they can be independent,” Ratuwa told Radio New Zealand Pacific on the sidelines of a geopolitics panel discussion in Auckland this week.

“For example, they could be absorbed into the alliance.”

He said the next question is how many people to absorb and what to do with the remaining people.

“Another issue is with the three members of the coalition who signed the contract as part of the coalition and the independents who come in will also sign the contract, just like the three parties.

“For example, what if the two partners, Sodelpa and the National Federation Party, refused to allow former Fiji First members to join?

“So it’s going to be a complicated situation in terms of how to deal with this.”

He said the coalition government was already discussing forming a national unity government with “ups and downs”.

“So actually the (national unity government) will be a larger coalition which includes former members of the Fiji First party.

“If they unite as a loose coalition of the former Fiji First party, then they may have to come to some sort of agreement with the existing coalition on how to come together to run the government.”

According to fijivillage.com ReportThe resignation of FijiFirst party executives “makes it clear” that “anyone who attempts to keep the party alive will inherit a large outstanding debt”.

According to the outlet, “Based on the audited financial accounts of the party as at December 31, 2023 assessed by Fiji Village News, the FijiFirst party has a net debt position of $701,180 and a working capital shortfall of $855,938.”

“With the deregistration of FijiFirst today, anyone who owed money to the party will suffer as there is no personal responsibility to repay the party’s huge debt.”

‘Bargaining is ongoing’

Professor Ratuwa said Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka had hinted at the possibility of a national unity government, which, if achieved, would be a significant change to the current political landscape.

Rabuka told local media that this possibility was “very high”.

Professor Latour said that negotiations are definitely ongoing at this stage.

“I’m sure there was some bargaining and negotiation behind the scenes,” he said.

He said they had to come to an agreement with the existing alliance to manage the matter properly.

But if it came to that stage, then “the cabinet would become bloated”, he added.

Professor Ratuwa admitted that even if the registration was indeed cancelled on Friday, discussions on the next steps for the remaining Fiji First MPs might take some time to surface.

“We will observe the results about a week after the deregistration,” he said.

The dissolution of Fiji First will allow Prime Minister Rabuka – who has had to navigate several crises within his coalition in his first 18 months in power – to have a larger pool of MPs to choose cabinet members.

“Now that Rabuka has enough MPs to choose from, does that mean you can just give up on MPs like Sodelpa?”