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Fiji Labour Party
The Fiji Labour Party (FLP; Fijian: Ilawalawa Cakacaka ni Viti, Fiji Hindi: फिजी श्रमिक पार्टी), commonly known as the Labour Party or just Labour, is a centre-left political party in Fiji. Most of its support is from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. The party has been elected to power twice, with Timoci Bavadra and Mahendra Chaudhry becoming prime minister in 1987 and 1999 respectively. On both occasions, the resulting government was rapidly overthrown by a coup.
By 1985, the people of Fiji were yearning for a third force in Fiji politics, as the opposition National Federation Party (NFP) was again falling apart and the right-wing policies of the ruling Alliance Party had alienated it from the ordinary people. Dissatisfaction with Government policies had begun soon after the 1982 elections with a prolonged teachers' strike and a hunger strike by young graduates, who were longer guaranteed employment. In industrial disputes, the government sided with the employers. In November 1984, when the Government announced a wage freeze, instead of calling a national strike, the largest trade union in Fiji, the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA), decided, in March 1985 by a margin of 2914 votes to 326 votes, to "associate itself with any organisation, in pursuance of workers' rights." The Fiji Labour Party was launched on 6 July 1985 under the auspices of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, at the Fiji Teachers Association hall in Suva.
FLP faced its first electoral test in municipal elections held three months later, when it won control of the Suva City Council and its candidate, Bob Kumar, was elected Lord Mayor. It also won seats on the Labasa, Nadi, and Ba Town Councils, and subsequently secured a seat on the Lautoka City Council at a by-election.
FLP's main test as a national political force came during the by-election for the North Central Indian National Seat in December 1985, following the resignation of Vijay R. Singh. FLP decided to field Mahendra Chaudhry, who was also the general secretary of the National Farmers Union as its candidate. The NFP candidate was former Alliance Minister, James Shankar Singh and the Alliance candidate was Uday Singh. Whereas both the Alliance and NFP again used race as an issue, Labour campaigned on policies. The result of the election was: Uday Singh, 7848 votes; Mahendra Chaudhry, 7644 votes and James Shankar Singh 5003 votes. Despite Chaudhry's narrow loss, Labour was considered to have done well.
In June 1986, the NFP-elected MP Satendra Nandan joined the FLP. One month later, he was joined by Davendra Singh of the NFP Youth Wing, who had defeated the official NFP candidate in an earlier by-election, and Jay Raj Singh, another NFP-elected MP.
The narrow loss of the North Central by-election warned Labour of what awaited it in three-cornered elections in future. In September 1985, there had been talks between the NFP Youth Wing and Labour, but Labour had refused to accept group affiliation. In December 1985, the President of the Ba Branch of the NFP had called for a coalition between NFP and FLP, but the first meeting on talks regarding a coalition took place with Western United Front (WUF) delegates on 6 June 1986 where WUF MP, Isikeli Nadalo argued that, "there should only be two political groups fighting the election." With the common aim of defeating the Alliance, a meeting between FLP, NFP and WUF was arranged for 26 June 1986.
Not all Labour supporters were happy with the idea of a coalition with NFP. USP lecturer, Dr Anirudh Singh, released the results of a survey, which demonstrated that Labour could win 26 seats on its own. The main concern for those who agreed with Dr Singh was that a coalition with NFP would destroy Labour's multiracial image and undermine its efforts to win greater Fijian support. Dr Singh's survey was designed to rally anti-coalition support at the first FLP convention in Lautoka in July 1986, but Krishna Dutt managed to persuade the convention to allow the Party's Management Board "a free hand to negotiate possible areas of cooperation that might serve the Party's electoral strategy." The Fiji Sun's political columnist wrote, "The Party must choose between political expediency and clinging to the basic principles on which the Party was founded." Mahendra Sukhdeo, a Labour Suva City Councillor, resigned in protest and joined the Alliance.
Despite grassroots opposition, the Labour Party moved closer to coalition. On 10 October 1986, agreement was reached for a coalition with WUF. On 9 November 1986, the NFP appointed former opposition leader, Jai Ram Reddy, to negotiate the final pact with the FLP, and two days later the National Council of the FLP authorised the management board to finalise the coalition details.
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Fiji Labour Party
The Fiji Labour Party (FLP; Fijian: Ilawalawa Cakacaka ni Viti, Fiji Hindi: फिजी श्रमिक पार्टी), commonly known as the Labour Party or just Labour, is a centre-left political party in Fiji. Most of its support is from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. The party has been elected to power twice, with Timoci Bavadra and Mahendra Chaudhry becoming prime minister in 1987 and 1999 respectively. On both occasions, the resulting government was rapidly overthrown by a coup.
By 1985, the people of Fiji were yearning for a third force in Fiji politics, as the opposition National Federation Party (NFP) was again falling apart and the right-wing policies of the ruling Alliance Party had alienated it from the ordinary people. Dissatisfaction with Government policies had begun soon after the 1982 elections with a prolonged teachers' strike and a hunger strike by young graduates, who were longer guaranteed employment. In industrial disputes, the government sided with the employers. In November 1984, when the Government announced a wage freeze, instead of calling a national strike, the largest trade union in Fiji, the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA), decided, in March 1985 by a margin of 2914 votes to 326 votes, to "associate itself with any organisation, in pursuance of workers' rights." The Fiji Labour Party was launched on 6 July 1985 under the auspices of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, at the Fiji Teachers Association hall in Suva.
FLP faced its first electoral test in municipal elections held three months later, when it won control of the Suva City Council and its candidate, Bob Kumar, was elected Lord Mayor. It also won seats on the Labasa, Nadi, and Ba Town Councils, and subsequently secured a seat on the Lautoka City Council at a by-election.
FLP's main test as a national political force came during the by-election for the North Central Indian National Seat in December 1985, following the resignation of Vijay R. Singh. FLP decided to field Mahendra Chaudhry, who was also the general secretary of the National Farmers Union as its candidate. The NFP candidate was former Alliance Minister, James Shankar Singh and the Alliance candidate was Uday Singh. Whereas both the Alliance and NFP again used race as an issue, Labour campaigned on policies. The result of the election was: Uday Singh, 7848 votes; Mahendra Chaudhry, 7644 votes and James Shankar Singh 5003 votes. Despite Chaudhry's narrow loss, Labour was considered to have done well.
In June 1986, the NFP-elected MP Satendra Nandan joined the FLP. One month later, he was joined by Davendra Singh of the NFP Youth Wing, who had defeated the official NFP candidate in an earlier by-election, and Jay Raj Singh, another NFP-elected MP.
The narrow loss of the North Central by-election warned Labour of what awaited it in three-cornered elections in future. In September 1985, there had been talks between the NFP Youth Wing and Labour, but Labour had refused to accept group affiliation. In December 1985, the President of the Ba Branch of the NFP had called for a coalition between NFP and FLP, but the first meeting on talks regarding a coalition took place with Western United Front (WUF) delegates on 6 June 1986 where WUF MP, Isikeli Nadalo argued that, "there should only be two political groups fighting the election." With the common aim of defeating the Alliance, a meeting between FLP, NFP and WUF was arranged for 26 June 1986.
Not all Labour supporters were happy with the idea of a coalition with NFP. USP lecturer, Dr Anirudh Singh, released the results of a survey, which demonstrated that Labour could win 26 seats on its own. The main concern for those who agreed with Dr Singh was that a coalition with NFP would destroy Labour's multiracial image and undermine its efforts to win greater Fijian support. Dr Singh's survey was designed to rally anti-coalition support at the first FLP convention in Lautoka in July 1986, but Krishna Dutt managed to persuade the convention to allow the Party's Management Board "a free hand to negotiate possible areas of cooperation that might serve the Party's electoral strategy." The Fiji Sun's political columnist wrote, "The Party must choose between political expediency and clinging to the basic principles on which the Party was founded." Mahendra Sukhdeo, a Labour Suva City Councillor, resigned in protest and joined the Alliance.
Despite grassroots opposition, the Labour Party moved closer to coalition. On 10 October 1986, agreement was reached for a coalition with WUF. On 9 November 1986, the NFP appointed former opposition leader, Jai Ram Reddy, to negotiate the final pact with the FLP, and two days later the National Council of the FLP authorised the management board to finalise the coalition details.