General elections were held in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

on 22 March and 8 April 1905.1905 Legislative Council Election
Fiji Elections Archive

Background

The previous general elections had been held in 1871. Although fresh elections had been due to take place in 1873, they were cancelled after protests from Europeans about the plans to let Fijians vote. In 1904 a new Legislative Council was established, consisting of ten official members from the civil service, six elected Europeans and two Fijians chosen by the Governor from a list of six candidates provided by the Council of Chiefs. Although Indo-Fijians were able to vote in municipal elections, voting practices in the community were considered suspect and the Governor noted that he "did not consider it necessary to provide for the representation of the Indians and Pacific Islanders because they had shown themselves open to corruption at the municipal elections." Instead, the Indo-Fijian community was represented only by the Agent-General for Immigration, one of the six civil servants in the Council.

Electoral system

The new constitution originally envisaged six elected members elected from four constituencies, of which two were geographic (the two-seat constituency of

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

and the one-seat constituency of Levuka) and two based on profession (a two-seat constituency of people involved in cultivating land for anything except sugar with at least 100 acres and a one-seat constituency for directors and managers of sugar companies). People involved in cultivating land were not eligible to vote in the geographic constituencies. However, prior to the elections, the electoral system was revised to combine the two non-geographic constituencies into a three-seat "Planters" constituency, which covered all of Fiji except Levuka and Suva. Voting was held in the Planters constituency on 8 April and in Suva on 22 March.

Results

Aftermath

Following the elections Josefa Lala and Joni Madraiwiwi were appointed as the Fijian members. Lala died later in the year and his place was taken by

Kadavu Levu Kadavu may refer to: * Kadavu Island, the fourth largest island in Fiji * Kadavu Group, an archipelago in Fiji including Kadavu Island * Kadavu Province, a province of Fiji including Kadavu Group * Kadavu Airport or Vunisea Airport, an airport on ...

.1905 Fiji Legislative Council elections
Fiji Elections James Murray resigned during the term of the Council. In the subsequent by-election,

Simeon Lewis Lazarus Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon. Meaning The name is derived from Simeon, son ...

defeated H. Shaw by 105 to 62 votes, with four informal votes cast.Ahmed Al
Fiji and the Franchise: A History of Political Representation, 1900–1937
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References

{{Fijian elections 1905 elections in Oceania 1905 in Fiji

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

1905 elections in the British Empire