Pacific Islands, explained.
Former coup leaders turned prime minister: Sitiveni Rabuka, left, Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama (Getty Images)
Complete democratisation will remain a challenge for Fiji while former military officers continue to dominate politics.
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Strong leader preferred – Fiji’s coup legacyStrong leader preferred – Fiji’s coup legacy
Strong leaders that bend rules received higher approval ratings in the inaugural Fiji post-election survey on voter behaviour and democracy. These findings reflect the tendency of Fijians to vote in favour of past coup leaders. Sitiveni Rabuka, for example, who led Fiji’s first coup of 1987, became prime minister after the 1992, 1994 and 2022 elections, and the 2006 coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama, became prime minister after the 2014 and 2018 elections.
But despite favouring a “strong leader”, Fijians are committed to democracy. Almost three-quarters (74%) of survey respondents gave preference to democracy over any other kind of government. Only 6% did not prefer democracy, while 15% were neutral.
Herein lies the irony for Fiji, where after overthrowing democracy through military coups, the coup leaders utilised the multiparty elections mechanism of democracy to return to power as legitimate leaders.
The findings provide indicators to donors, educational organisations and international partners in areas including education on elections and democracy, voting for change, women’s empowerment, disinformation, and media use.
But Fijians also want leaders to play by the rules. The preference for democracy is supported by the concurrence of 72% of respondents who think that the courts should be able to stop the government acting beyond its authority. Only 11% disagreed about such authority, while 12% were neutral. These findings are significant given that preparations for the 2026 Fiji elections will commence soon.
As the project coordinator for the Fiji post-election survey conducted by Fiji National University in 2023, I released the preliminary findings at a Department of Pacific Affairs seminar at the Australian National University, Canberra, in December. The findings provide indicators to donors, educational organisations and international partners in areas including education on elections and democracy, voting for change, women’s empowerment, disinformation, and media use. The survey respondents comprised 1,054 Fiji citizens from Central, Western and Northern divisions that were eligible to vote in the 2022 Fiji General Election.
The findings in Fiji correspond to the Perceptions of Democracy Survey (2024) by International IDEA that found more people had favourable views of a “strong leader” in eight of 19 countries assessed. It reflects voters’ inclination worldwide to elect charismatic leaders, which indicates aura is possibly a greater asset for political leaders than rudimentary adherence to rule of law.
A majority (51%) agreed that “Having a strong leader in government is good for the country, even if the leader bends the rules to get things done.” Only 29% disagreed with this sentiment, while 16% remained neutral. The findings corroborate the 2022 Fiji General Election results wherein Bainimarama received the highest number of votes, 136,829, while the second-highest vote getter was Rabuka with 77,748. Victory was aided by a single national constituency provided for under Fiji’s 2013 Constitution. Due to absence of constituencies, popular political leaders amass/accumulate nationwide votes.
Despite being the highest-scoring election candidate, only one-third (33%) of survey respondents liked Bainimarama, whereas Sitiveni Rabuka fetching less than half Bainimarama’s votes received a high approval rating of 51%. This is in line with the tendency for poll victors to attract more favourable ratings from the public than the loser, aptly displayed in Anthony Albanese, winner of the 2022 Australian federal election, receiving a high popularity rating in the Australian Election Study while poll loser Scott Morrison was the least popular.
While the Fijian preference for democracy and authority of the courts is positive, a regressive finding was that a greater number (54%) of respondents believed that policies to increase the representation of women in politics have gone too far. Only 24% disagreed on such women’s representation policies, while 13% were neutral.
This finding is problematic as the previous Fiji government had not implemented any affirmative action policies to increase the representation of women in politics. It conveys a misperception in Fiji that the previous government may have provided assistance to increase women’s representation, despite such special assistance being non-existent. Local and international organisations did conduct educational activities in the lead-up to Fiji’s 2022 election to encourage women to contest parliamentary polls. Regrettably, women’s representation decreased to a mere 9% of Fiji’s parliament in 2023, compared to a high of 20% after the 2018 election. Inadequate representation is not the only problem women face. Additionally, violence against women is high in Fiji with two out of three women facing intimate partner violence.
The results of the survey overall indicate that continuing education is necessary on issues such as elections and media use, the role of leaders and political parties, along with judgement on government performance. Fiji is not immune to global risks, where freedom has declined across the world for 18 years running, according to the Freedom in the World 2024 report, through manipulation of elections, attacks on pluralism, coups, the denial of liberties and undermining of democracy. And complete democratisation will remain a challenge for Fiji as “strong leader” former military officers continue to dominate politics.
About the author
Mosmi Bhim
Dr Mosmi Bhim is a faculty member of the Department of Ethics and Governance at Fiji National University.
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