The People's Coalition was an

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

of three political parties in Fiji, formed in March 1999 to contest the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

to be held in May that year. The three parties were the

Fiji Labour Party The Fiji Labour Party (FLP; fj, Ilawalawa Cakacaka ni Viti), also known as Fiji Labour, is a 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 i ...

(FLP), led by

Mahendra Chaudhry Mahendra Pal Chaudhry ( hif, महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी; born 9 February 1942) is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former lead ...

, the

Fijian Association Party The Fijian Association Party (FAP) is a former political party in Fiji. It played a significant role in Fijian politics throughout the 1990s, but lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives in the parliamentary election of 2001. The ...

(FAP), led by Adi Kuini Speed, and the Party of National Unity (PANU), led by

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 o ...

. Campaigning against the SVT- NFP- UGP coalition supporting the incumbent Prime Minister

Sitiveni Rabuka Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, (; born 13 September 1948) is a Fijian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was democratically elected as Prime Minist ...

, the People's Coalition won a landslide victory, taking 52 of the 71 seats in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. Of these, 37 seats were from Chaudhry's FLP, and, despite protests from the FAP, Chaudhry was sworn in as Fiji's first ethnic

Indo-Fijian Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...

Prime Minister. A fourth party, the Christian Democratic Alliance (VLV), joined the coalition after the election. All members of the coalition had defections both before and after the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

which deposed the Chaudhry government in May 2000. All except the FLP disappeared from the House of Representatives at the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

held to restore democracy in September 2001.

External links

Save of the original website of the People's Coalition website
People's Coalition Political parties established in 1999 Political parties disestablished in 2000 {{Fiji-party-stub