(+B) Will Elections alone Solve Fiji Problems? Asking the Wrong Questions Fr Kevin Barr

There seems to be a great deal of international concern that Fiji should have elections and return to democracy as soon as possible. Calls for democratic elections have come from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the European Union and the commonwealth. We have had the report of the Eminent Persons group. Recently we have been inundated with overseas visitors – the UN fact finding mission as well as the Commonwealth Human rights fact finding mission. Two visits have been made from the European Union. Then the Pacific Islands Forum has organized a Ministerial committee to advise on the holding of elections.

This great flurry of activity is very interesting. It seems that the international community thinks that as soon as Fiji holds elections and returns to democracy, all its problems will be over. It will be accepted back into all the organizations from which it has been expelled and all will be right with the world. There can be great rejoicing and everyone can sit back satisfied that democracy has been restored.

All this is well and good. But it has all happened before. After previous coups in 1987 and 2000 Fiji was urged to have elections and return to democracy as quickly as possible. This happened and the International community was overjoyed to welcome Fiji back into the democratic fold.

But elections did not solve Fiji’s basic problems and when those problems raised their heads again and caused serious tensions and upsets (as they did during the Qarase regime) the International community seemed quite unconcerned because a democratic government was in place. No fact finding missions came from the commonwealth or the UN or the EU. No Eminent Persons were selected to look into the problems. Our closest neighbours did little to put pressure on a racist regime to act in the interests of all its citizens. They had seen to it that a democratically elected government was in place and that was all that was required.

Yet, by now we should have learnt that democracy measured by elections is not a panacea. Rudi Guliani noted recently that “elections are necessary but not sufficient to establish genuine democracy”.

A visit was made recently by Ministers from Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and other Pacific Island Forum Nations. But they asked the wrong questions. Their main concern (or obsession) was “How soon can Fiji have elections?” They should have been asking: “What issues need to be addressed by Fiji before elections can be expected to return Fiji to real democracy?”

Every coup exposes wounds that need to be healed and the deep underlying problems that need to be addressed. Before Fiji can gain stability and effectively return to some degree of real democracy a number of serious issues need to be addressed and resolved.


1. The agenda of the extreme nationalists needs to be addressed. This includes those who want “Fiji for the Fijians”, calls for “Fijian unity” and the demand for a Christian State.

2. The explosive mix of fundamentalist religion and extreme nationalism found in the Assembly of Christian Churches in Fiji (ACCF) which seeks to have a strong influence on the political and social scene.

3. The current electoral system which is unfair to Fijians, encourages racial divisiveness and is contrary to human rights.

4. The conflicts and power tensions within some of the Fijian chiefly families and confederacies.

5. The “culture of silence” which ensures that, at election time, Fijians – especially those in rural areas – are strongly influenced (or required) by culture to vote for the candidates selected for them by their Chief, their Provincial Council or their Church Minister (thus making a mockery of individual choice and true democracy.

6. The culture of mismanagement, corruption, nepotism and cronyism.

7. The current economic policies which are creating greater poverty and inequality and giving rise to “two Fijis”.


Besides all this we need:
· a well conducted Census (now hopefully nearly completed);
· the establishment of fair and proper electoral boundaries;
· extensive voter education about the nature and purpose of democracy.

We don’t just need a timeframe for a return to democracy, we need strategies that will address the big problems underlying our instability and giving rise to constant coups.

We do not have a “coup culture”, rather we have a number of serious unaddressed problems which will continue to cause instability (and possibly further coups) until they are effectively acknowledged and addressed. Any attempt to throw a cloak of superficial democracy over them will be counterproductive.

So elections alone are no panacea for Fiji’s problems. Much more is needed is we are to gain and sustain stability. As Guliani noted above, “elections are necessary but not sufficient to establish genuine democracy”.

The recent events in Thailand should offer some warning signs that having elections and returning to democracy do not necessarily bring peace and stability. Only one year after the people of Thailand had elections, the nation is in turmoil again because the fundamental problems of the country were not addressed.

Those nations and organizations which are currently demanding Fiji to return to democracy through immediate elections may unwittingly be promoting further future conflict and disharmony.

Everyone wants Fiji to return to democracy. But, if we are wise, we will “hasten slowly” and make sure that basic problems underlying Fiji’s instability have been addressed. Only then can we hope to really return to sound and sustainable democracy.

Some say Fiji’s underlying problems are best addressed by an elected government – not by an Interim government. But this has not happened so far and the danger is that, once elected according to the present system, a new government will continue racist policies and inequality and fail to get to the root causes of the nation’s problems.

What Australia, New Zealand, the US, the EU, the UN, the Pacific Islands Forum and the commonwealth should really be looking at is whether or not the basic problems underlying Fiji’s instability are currently being addressed by the Interim government – not simply how soon Fiji can be forced into having elections for some questionable quick “return to democracy”.

Moreover if the Interim government is addressing the basic problems underlying Fiji’s instability our so-called friends and neighbours should be assisting (not hindering) this process of development.