Ethnic Politics and Strongman Loyalties in Fiji’s 2018 Election

Abstract

ABSTRACTFiji’s 2018 election was the first test of prime minister and coup leader Frank Bainimarama’s FijiFirst government after a period in elected office and the second election since the military coup of 2006. It was an election the incumbents confidently expected easily to win, but one which signalled some reinvigoration of a previously divided and demoralized opposition. This article examines the major political parties and their social bases, the key issues in the campaign and the polling venue data. It uses Sitiveni Rabuka’s accession to the leadership of the main opposition party as a window on important events in Fiji’s postcolonial history, which themselves became a key focus of the 2018 campaign. The paper finds unusual forms of orchestrated ethnic polarization disguised as its inverse, concerted use of incumbency to consolidate a reformist electoral base and some limited easing of previous constraints on the courts, the media and public protest. Despite the 12 years since the 2006 coup, Fiji remains a highly precarious democracy.