– Opponent Sitiveni Rabuka confirmed as prime minister
The opponent Sitiveni Rabuka was elected as the next prime minister of Fiji, this Saturday, December 24, 2022, in a secret vote of parliament. He won over outgoing Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
Opponent Sitiveni Rabuka was confirmed as Prime Minister of Fiji on Saturday, following accusing the outgoing government of fueling “fear and chaos” to frustrate his return to power. Sitiveni Rabuka defeated incumbent Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama by 28 to 27 in a secret ballot in parliament, House Speaker Naiqama Lalabalavu said.
The former army strongman thus replaces Frank Bainimarama, who overthrew the government in a military coup in 2006. Upon leaving parliament before being officially sworn in by the president, Mr. Rabuka, 74, said he felt ‘humble’ to be Fiji’s next prime minister A concert of cars rang out in celebration outside the Parliament building in the capital, Suva.
Shortly following the result of the vote, the European Union Ambassador for the Pacific, Sujiro Seam sent his congratulations to Sitiveni Rabuka on Twitter.
The army has been deployed in the streets of the capital, following stalled general elections. Citing unconfirmed reports of ethnic violence, Frank Bainimarama had said the army was needed to maintain “law and order”.
But Sitiveni Rabuka – who himself led two coups in 1987 – had judged that the government “sowed fear and chaos” and “tried to inflame the nation according to racial criteria”. Sitiveni Rabuka is thus making his political comeback, following serving as Prime Minister of Fiji between 1992 and 1999. A former Fijian rugby international, he managed to conclude a coalition agreement with the Social Democratic Party to form the government on Friday followingnoon, which enabled him to obtain a majority in parliament.
Frank Bainimarama, who came to power following a putsch, had been at the head of Fiji for 16 years. Under the Fijian Constitution, the military has broad powers to intervene in the political sphere and has been implicated in four coups in the past 35 years.
Many Fijians fear that the government’s allegations of ethnic violence and the deployment of the army might be used as a pretext for a “creeping coup”. Fiji, a state of more than 300 islands in the Pacific, has a large Indo-Fijian minority and episodes of infighting have been seen in the past.
AFP
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