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Federation Party
The Federation Party was Fiji's first formal political party. The Citizens Federation, which had won three of the four seats reserved for Indo-Fijians at the 1963 elections, decided to formalize its role as a political party, which was officially founded on 21 June 1964 with A. D. Patel as President and Sidiq Koya as Vice-President. The merger took place in time for the party to participate in the 1965 constitutional conference which was called to map out a path towards independence from the United Kingdom. In 1968, the Federation Party merged with the National Democratic Party to form the National Federation Party, which is now (2021) the oldest political party in Fiji still in existence. 1965 Constitutional Conference When, in late 1964, when the Government announced a constitutional conference to decide on Fiji's move to independence, it asked each ethnic group to select its own delegates. A.D. Patel nominated himself and three other Federation Party members, James Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Citizens Federation
The Citizens Federation was the political expression of a predominantly Indo-Fijian trade union movement, and was a forerunner of the present day National Federation Party. A dispute between cane farmers and the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) in 1960 regarding a new cane contract led to the formation of the Federation of Cane Growers under the leadership of Dr A. D. Patel in May 1959. The Federation soon split, however: on 24 July 1960, Ayodhya Prasad of Kisan Sangh and Vijay R. Singh of Labasa Kisan Sangh broke away and signed an agreement with CSR for the purchase of the 1960 crop. They were joined by B. D. Lakshman. Singh and Lakshman accused Patel of dividing the Indian population and leading them further into debt. Intercommunal tensions also rose, with some Fijians, such as the Lauan Chief and Legislative Council member Ratu Kamisese Mara, called for Patel to be deported. The Government appointed a commission of inquiry, headed by Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Council Of Chiefs
The Great Council of Chiefs ''(Bose Levu Vakaturaga'' in Fijian) was a constitutional body in Fiji from 1876 to March 2012. In April 2007, the council was suspended, due to an unworkable relationship with Frank Bainimarama, leader of an "interim government" that came to power through military coup in December 2006. It was formally disestablished by decree in March 2012. It was different from the House of Chiefs, a larger body that includes all hereditary chiefs, although membership of the two bodies overlapped to a considerable extent. The Great Council of Chiefs in its most recent form was established under Section 116 of the now-defunct 1997 Constitution, but it actually predated the Constitution by many years, having been established by the British colonial rulers as an advisory body in 1876, two years after Fiji was ceded to the United Kingdom. Institutional history The Council was established in 1876 under the governorship of Sir Arthur Gordon. The decision was taken fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fijians
Fijians ( fj, iTaukei, lit=Owners (of the land)) are a nation and ethnic group native to Fiji, who speak Fijian and share a common history and culture. Fijians, or ''iTaukei'', are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. Indigenous Fijians are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown. Later they would move onward to other surrounding islands, including Rotuma, as well as blending with other (Polynesian) settlers on Tonga and Samoa. They are indigenous to all parts of Fiji except the island of Rotuma. The original settlers are now called " Lapita people" after a distinctive pottery produced locally. Lapita pottery was found in the area from 800 BCE onward. As of 2005, indigenous Fijians constituted slightly more than half of the total Fijian population. Indigenous Fijians are predominantly of Melanesian extraction, wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apisai Tora
Mohammad Apisai Vuniyayawa Tora (January 5, 1934 – August 6, 2020) was a Fijian politician, soldier, and trade unionist. As a labour leader, he was a fighter for dock workers. As a soldier, he served in Malaya and later served as President of the Ex-Servicemen's League. Tora held a variety of political positions, the last being as a Senator from 2001 to 2006. A convert to Islam, he represented a small minority ( numbered in the hundreds) in both the indigenous Fijian and Muslim communities, the great majority of Muslims being Indo-Fijian. On 27 September 2005, he was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for offenses related to the Fiji coup of 2000. Political career Tora had a reputation in Fiji for being something of a chameleon, having championed both Fijian ethnic nationalism and multiculturalism at different times. After returning from military service in Malaya, Tora was president of the North West Branch of the Wholesale and Retail General Workers' Union. With G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
By-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumbent dying or resigning, or when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office (because of a recall, election or appointment to a prohibited dual mandate, criminal conviction, or failure to maintain a minimum attendance), or when an election is invalidated by voting irregularities. In some cases a vacancy may be filled without a by-election or the office may be left vacant. Origins The procedure for filling a vacant seat in the House of Commons of England was developed during the Reformation Parliament of the 16th century by Thomas Cromwell; previously a seat had remained empty upon the death of a member. Cromwell de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Minister Of Fiji
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The office of Chief Minister of Fiji was established by the British colonial authorities on 20 September 1967, along with the Cabinet system of government. This was part of an ongoing move to forge modern political institutions to prepare Fiji for independence, which was granted on 10 October 1970. The Chief Minister, who was appointed by the colonial Governor, had to retain the support of a majority of the Legislative Council. As Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's Alliance Party controlled a majority of the seats, he was appointed to this post, which was renamed Prime Minister upon independence. List of Chief Ministers of Fiji (1967–1970) See also *Prime Minister of Fiji Fiji, Chief Minister of Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamisese Mara
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, (6 May 1920 – 18 April 2004) was a Fijian politician, who served as Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as President from 1993 to 2000. Early life and education: 1920 to 1950 Ratu Sir Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Uluilakeba Mara was born on 6 May 1920, in Sawana, Lomaloma, Vanuabalavu in the archipelago of Lau, the son of Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba, Tui Nayau and head of the chiefly Vuanirewa clan of Tubou, Lakeba and Lusiana Qolikoro from the Fonolahi Family of the Yavusa Tonga clan in Sawana. Fonolahi has lineage to the Tongan royalty and was also descended from an English missionary. Mara's title, ''Ratu'', which means "Chief," was hereditary; as the hereditary Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands, he held the titles of ''Tui Lau'' in 1963, and '' Tui Nayau kei Sau ni Vanua ko Lau' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lau Islands
The Lau Islands aka little Tonga (also called the Lau Group, the Eastern Group, the Eastern Archipelago) of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited. The Lau Group covers a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km), and had a population of 10,683 at the most recent census in 2007. While most of the northern Lau Group are high islands of volcanic origin, those of the south are mostly carbonate low islands. Administratively the islands belong to Lau Province. History The British explorer James Cook reached Vatoa in 1774. By the time of the discovery of the Ono Group in 1820, the Lau archipelago was the most mapped area of Fiji. Political unity came late to the Lau Islands. Historically, they comprised three territories: the Northern Lau Islands, the Southern Lau Islands, and the Moala Islands. Around 1855, the renegade Tongan prince Enele Ma'afu conquered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Responsible Government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive branch) in Westminster democracies are responsible to parliament rather than to the monarch, or, in a colonial context, to the imperial government, and in a republican context, to the president, either in full or in part. If the parliament is bicameral, then the government is responsible first to the parliament's lower house, which is more representative than the upper house, as it usually has more members and they are always directly elected. Responsible government of parliamentary accountability manifests itself in several ways. Ministers account to Parliament for their decisions and for the performance of their departments. This requirement to make announcements and to answer questions in Parliament means that ministers must have the priv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alliance Party (Fiji)
The Alliance Party, was the ruling political party in Fiji from 1966 to 1987. Founded in the early 1960s, its leader was Kamisese Mara, the founding father of the modern Fijian nation. Widely seen as the political vehicle of the traditional Fijian chiefs, the Alliance Party also commanded considerable support among the Europeans and other ethnic minorities, who, although comprising only 3–4% of Fiji's population, were over represented in the parliament (with a third of the seats before 1973, and a sixth thereafter, allocated to them). Indo-Fijians were less supportive, but the Fijian-European block vote kept the Alliance Party in power for more than twenty years. Formation of the Alliance Party The formation of the Alliance Party was the direct result of the call, in November 1965, by the Governor, Sir Derek Jakeway, ''"for leaders of imagination, who have the interests of all the people of Fiji truly at heart, to build political alliances with the object of contesting el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Division, Fiji
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The Western Division of Fiji is one of Fiji's four divisions. It consists of three provinces in western/northern Viti Levu, namely Ba, Nadroga-Navosa and Ra. The largest city is Lautoka. It also includes a few outlying islands, including the Yasawa Islands, Viwa Island, and Mamanuca Islands. It has a land border with the Central Division on Viti Levu, and sea borders with the Northern Division and Eastern Division. References Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
