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25-653: It was founded by Filipe Bole , a former Cabinet Minister , as a merger of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (which had dominated the government in the 1990s), the Fijian Association Party , the Christian Democratic Alliance , and the New Labour Unity Party . All but the last of these had been eliminated from Parliament in the parliamentary election of 2001. The party aimed to secure

50-670: A Senior Fellow with the Centre for International and Regional Affairs at the University of Fiji . House of Representatives of Fiji The House of Representatives was the lower chamber of Fiji 's Parliament from 1970 to 2006. It was the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone had the power to initiate legislation (the Senate , by contrast, could amend or veto most legislation, but could not initiate it). The House of Representatives also had much greater jurisdiction over financial bills;

75-451: A chief whose father and father-in-law both served as President of Fiji . Filipe Bole was appointed a spokesman for the new party. This article about a political party in Fiji is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Filipe Bole Filipe Nagera Bole CBE , CF (23 August 1936 – 19 June 2019) was a Fijian politician who hailed from the village of Mualevu on

100-413: A communal electorate. The system remained controversial, however. The open constituencies differed from the former national constituencies in that while both comprised all registered voters on a common voters' roll, regardless of race, the open constituencies might be contested by members of any ethnic group whereas the national constituencies were ethnically allocated. At its first session following

125-536: A general election, the House of Representatives would elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker . With a view to ensuring impartiality, the Speaker was not allowed to be a member of the House, though he was required to qualify for membership. The Deputy Speaker, however, was elected from among members of the House. [2] The Deputy Speaker was required to be a member of the House. The last Deputy Speaker, Niko Nawaikula, represented

150-531: A niche in the middle ground of Fijian politics , offering a multiracial alternative to the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua / Conservative Alliance coalition of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase (supported almost exclusively by indigenous Fijians ) on the one hand, and the Fiji Labour Party of former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry (supported mostly by Indo-Fijians ) on the other. Among its policies

175-420: A review of Fiji's electoral system to represent all races proportionally in the House of Representatives. This would, he said, get rid of the antagonistic racial politics that have characterized Fiji for many years. The common voters' role was "just toilet paper where everybody is just listed," and that in contests for open electorates , citizens were apt to vote on racial lines. "This fear of racial politics

200-545: Is still endemic among many in Fiji today and we cannot change it but perhaps to have proportionate voting system can bring our people together," Bole said. On 21 May 2007, Bole was nominated to the position of Chairman at the Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority. He was appointed to the three-year position by interim Finance Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry . It was reported on 5 September 2006 that Bole had been appointed

225-474: The Cabinet . While remaining Minister for Foreign Affairs, he concurrently held portfolios as Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism from 1995 to 1996, and as Minister for National Development in 1997. That year, he became Minister for Information, a post he held till 1999 when his Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei was defeated in the parliamentary election that May, an election in which Bole himself failed to win

250-455: The Prime Minister and Cabinet were required to retain the confidence of a majority of the House of Representatives to remain in office. The House of Representatives was suspended by the 2006 military coup . The 2013 Constitution abolished it and replaced it with a single chamber Parliament . The House of Representatives dated from 10 October 1970, when Fiji attained independence from

275-611: The Suva City Fijian Communal Constituency . In the 2001 election , Bole led the campaign of the Fijian Political Party, but it failed to win any seats. In June 2002, Bole founded the Fiji Democratic Party (FDP) as a merger of some members of the Fijian Political Party, the Christian Democratic Alliance , the Fijian Association Party , and the New Labour Unity Party , but in early 2005,

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300-642: The United Nations from 1980 to 1983, when he became a project administrator of the Pacific Islands Development Program in Honolulu , Hawaii , where he remained till 1986. Returning to Fiji, he entered politics and served as Minister for Education in 1986 and 1987. Following two coups d'état in 1987, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs , holding office till 1988, then served as Minister for Youth and Sport from 1989 to 1992. Bole

325-563: The military -backed regime in Suva , who were pursuing charges against Adi Ateca's brother, Roko Tevita Uluilakeba Mara . On 27 April 2005, he called for an overhaul of Fiji's education system. He advocated full government funding, saying that the present user-pays system puts a heavy financial burden on many parents. He also said that instruction in English only was creating difficulties for students not fluent in it. On 1 August 2005, Bole called for

350-632: The FDP decided to officially disband and merge into the National Alliance Party , a new party founded by Ratu Epeli Ganilau , as a claimed successor to the defunct Alliance Party which ruled the country from 1967 to 1987. Bole went on to assume a leading role as a spokesman for the new party, and unsuccessfully contested the Samabula Tamavua Open Constituency for the party in the 2006 election . Bole's last elective position

375-514: The Senate could not amend them, although it might veto them. Except in the case of amendments to the Constitution , over which a veto of the Senate was absolute, the House of Representatives might override a Senatorial veto by passing the same bill a second time, in the parliamentary session immediately following the one in which it was rejected by the Senate, after a minimum period of six months. Also,

400-620: The United Kingdom. Under a grandfather clause in the 1970 Constitution, the old Legislative Council , which had functioned in various forms since 1904, was renamed the House of Representatives and continued in office until 1972, when the first post-independence elections were held. Membership of the House of Representatives was increased from 36 to 52 in 1972, and to 70 in 1992. By the time of its suspension and abolition it had 71 members, all of whom were elected for five-year terms to represent single-member constituencies. The electoral system

425-483: The island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau Group . He had a reputation as one of Fiji's few politicians untainted by scandal, and was noted for his moderate views. In October 2003, he endorsed calls for an end to racially segregated voting, saying that electing all members of the House of Representatives by universal suffrage would make voters and politicians think of the common national good, rather than communal interests. He

450-418: The latter were allocated to specific ethnic groups (10 indigenous Fijians, 10 Indo-Fijians, and 5 General Electors), but elected by universal suffrage . The system was a compromise between indigenous demands for a strictly communal franchise (based on fears of being swamped by an Indo-Fijian block-vote) and Indo-Fijian calls for universal suffrage, and was never widely popular. Ethnic Fijian nationalists blamed

475-439: The national constituencies for the election of an Indo-Fijian dominated government in 1987, and following two military coups , they were abolished by the new republican Constitution of 1990. The elections of 1992 and 1994 saw all 70 members elected from communal constituencies; this system was widely resented by many Indo-Fijians, who complained that only 27 seats were allocated to them as opposed to 37 to ethnic Fijians, despite

500-716: The near equality of their numbers at that time. A further 5 seats were allocated to minority groups. A constitutional review in 1997 introduced a new system, with 71 members. 25 were elected by universal suffrage from Open constituencies ("open" meaning that the franchise was open to all locally resident Fijian citizens, irrespective of their ethnic background), with the remaining 46 elected from communal constituencies, with 23 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians, 19 for Indo-Fijians, 1 for Rotuman Islanders, and 3 for "General Electors" – Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders , and other minorities. Every Fijian citizen eligible to vote thus had two votes – one for an open electorate, and one for

525-449: Was a proposal to abolish race-based voting and to introduce universal suffrage for all electorates (at present, 46 of the 71 seats in the House of Representatives represent ethnic communities and are elected from closed electoral rolls ). In April 2005, the FDP announced its own dissolution and merger with the newly formed National Alliance Party of Fiji , founded by Ratu Epeli Ganilau ,

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550-487: Was as Chairman of the Lau Provincial Council , from 12 July 2011 to April 2014, when he was succeeded by Jiko Luveni . His appointment was controversial: the day before taking office, he was defeated in his bid for the chairmanship by Adi Ateca Ganilau , daughter of former Prime Minister and President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara by 17 votes to 15, but she stepped aside in his favour, apparently under pressure from

575-436: Was changed a number of times after independence in an effort to meet the competing demands of Fiji's diverse ethnic communities . In elections from 1972 through 1987, Fiji was divided into communal and national constituencies. The former were elected by voters registered as members of specific ethnic groups (12 indigenous Fijians , 12 Indo-Fijians , and 3 General electors – Caucasians, Chinese, and other minorities);

600-583: Was educated at Victoria University of Wellington , New Zealand , and at Auckland Teachers College . He subsequently worked as a teacher in Fiji, before going into the civil service where he served from 1972 to 1980 in a number of government departments. He was also a member of the Council of the University of the South Pacific in Suva from 1974 to 1980. He was Fiji's Ambassador to the United States and

625-402: Was elected to the House of Representatives in the election held to restore democracy in 1992, and was subsequently appointed Foreign Minister again. Apart from a brief interruption in 1994, he remained in this post until 1997. Bole was also Deputy Prime Minister for a short time from June 1992 to 1993. He transferred from the House of Representatives to the Senate in 1994 but remained in

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