1966 Fijian general election
 |
|---|
General elections were held in Fiji in 1966, the last before independence in 1970 and the first held under universal suffrage.[1] The result was a victory for the Alliance Party, which won 23 of the 34 elected seats. Its leader Kamisese Mara became the country's first Chief Minister the following year.
Background
A constitutional conference was held in London in 1965, which resulted in the Legislative Council being reorganised to consist of 36 seats; 14 for Fijians and other Pacific Islanders (two of which were nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs), 12 for Indo-Fijians and 10 for all other ethnic groups.[1]
Members of the Legislative Council were elected from two types of constituency; communal and cross-voting, with voters being able to cast four votes each. Each voter cast a single vote in one of the 25 communal constituency, in which they could only vote for a candidate of their own ethnicity. In the three three-seat cross-voting constituencies, voters voted for a candidate from each of the three ethnic groups.[1]
Campaign
For the first time, the elections were a largely partisan event, dominated by the Fijian Alliance Party and the Indo-Fijian Federation Party.[1] A total of 79 candidates contested the elections, three of which were women.[2]
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance Party | 214,872 | 51.94 | 23 |
| Federation Party | 113,310 | 27.39 | 9 |
| National Democratic Party | 6,874 | 1.66 | 0 |
| Independents | 78,644 | 19.01 | 2 |
| Nominated | – | – | 2 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 30,372 | – | – |
| Total | 444,072 | 100 | 36 |
| Source: Fiji Elections | |||
By constituency
| Seat | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fijian seats | |||||
| Cakaudrove | Jone Naisara | Alliance Party | 4,908 | Elected | |
| Anare M. Tuidraki | Independent | 949 | |||
| Invalid votes | 314 | – | |||
| Lau-Rotuma | Jonate Mavoa | Alliance Party | Unopposed | Elected | |
| Lomaiviti/Kadavu | Solomone Momoivalu | Alliance Party | Unopposed | Elected | |
| Macuata/Bua | Emosi Vuakatagane | Alliance Party | 2,885 | Elected | |
| Militoni Vereaqali Leweniqila | Independent | 1,774 | |||
| Invalid votes | 207 | – | |||
| North West Viti Levu | Sakeasi Waqanivavalagi | Alliance Party | 6,354 | Elected | |
| Isaia Vakabua | Independent | 1,670 | |||
| Jone Ravunakana | Independent | 1,268 | |||
| Invalid votes | 191 | – | |||
| Rewa–Suva | Alipate Vuate Sikivou | Alliance Party | 4,427 | Elected | |
| Jone Cure Mataitini | Independent | 1,779 | |||
| Noa Niubalavu Nawalowalo | Independent | 1,268 | |||
| Invalid votes | 158 | – | |||
| South Central Viti Levu | David Toganivalu | Alliance Party | 4,368 | Elected | |
| Penaia Lalabalavu Latianara | Independent | 981 | |||
| Meli Radelaiburelevu Loki | Independent | 873 | |||
| Ifereimi Nakaiwalu | Independent | 205 | |||
| Invalid votes | 182 | – | |||
| South West Viti Levu | Peniame Naqasima | Alliance Party | 5,600 | Elected | |
| Apisai Tora | National Democratic Party | 2,632 | |||
| Invalid votes | 133 | – | |||
| Tailevu | William Brown Toganivalu | Alliance Party | 3,347 | Elected | |
| Livai Volavola | Independent | 1,580 | |||
| Meli Saronicava Baleilakeba | Independent | 383 | |||
| Invalid votes | 187 | – | |||
| Council of Chiefs nominees | George Cakobau | Elected | |||
| Losalini Raravuya Dovi | Elected | ||||
| General seats | |||||
| Eastern and Central | Wesley Barrett | Alliance Party | 816 | Elected | |
| Robert Spowart | Independent | 132 | |||
| Invalid votes | 11 | – | |||
| Northern | Harold Brockett Gibson | Independent | 392 | Elected | |
| Fred Archibald | Independent | 292 | Unseated | ||
| Hugh Thaggard | Independent | 151 | |||
| Lawrence Simpson | Independent | 73 | |||
| Invalid votes | 33 | – | |||
| Suva | John Falvey | Alliance Party | 1544 | Re-elected | |
| Charles Stinson | Independent | 1,384 | Elected | ||
| William Yee | Alliance Party | 1,381 | Elected | ||
| Margaret Bain | Alliance Party | 1,288 | |||
| Invalid votes | 4 | – | |||
| West Viti Levu | Ronald Kermode | Alliance Party | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| R. H. Yarrow | Alliance Party | Unopposed | Elected | ||
| Indo-Fijian seats | |||||
| North-East Vanua Levu | James Madhavan | Federation Party | 5,049 | 66.9 | Re-elected |
| Gaya Prasad | Independent | 2,494 | 33.1 | ||
| Invalid votes | 320 | – | |||
| North-East Viti Levu | C. A. Shah | Federation Party | 3,799 | 58.2 | Re-elected |
| Vishnu Deo | Alliance Party | 1,955 | 30.0 | ||
| V. P. Bajpai | Independent | 770 | 11.8 | ||
| Invalid votes | 100 | – | |||
| North Eastern | Ram Jati Singh | Federation Party | 2,328 | 65.3 | Elected |
| Harish Chandra Kohli | Independent | 1,238 | 34.7 | ||
| Invalid votes | 206 | – | |||
| North-West Viti Levu | R. D. Patel | Federation Party | 4,704 | 51.7 | Elected |
| James Shankar Singh | Alliance Party | 4,401 | 48.3 | ||
| Invalid votes | 104 | – | |||
| South-Central Viti Levu | M. T. Khan | Federation Party | 4,380 | 72.3 | Elected |
| Ramanlal I. Kapadia | Independent | 1,650 | 27.3 | ||
| B. D. Lakshman | Independent | 24 | 0.4 | ||
| Invalid votes | 150 | – | |||
| South-West Viti Levu | A. D. Patel | Federation Party | 7,601 | 64.4 | Re-elected |
| Ayodhya Prasad | Alliance Party | 4,205 | 35.6 | ||
| Invalid votes | 167 | – | |||
| Suva | Irene Jai Narayan | Federation Party | 5,676 | 67.1 | Elected |
| Andrew Deoki | Independent | 2,779 | 32.9 | Unseated | |
| Invalid votes | 108 | – | |||
| Tailevu-Rewa | K. C. Ramrakha | Federation Party | 3,220 | 71.5 | Elected |
| K. B. Singh | Independent | 677 | 15.1 | ||
| Ram Lochan Regan | Independent | 604 | 13.4 | ||
| Invalid votes | 105 | – | |||
| West Viti Levu Indian | Sidiq Koya | Federation Party | 6,318 | 73.7 | Re-elected |
| Jaswant Singh | Independent | 2,240 | 26.1 | ||
| C. A. Patel | Independent | 19 | 0.2 | ||
| Invalid votes | 201 | – | |||
| Source: Fiji Elections | |||||
| Cross-voting seats | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constituency | Ethnic group | Candidate | Party | Votes | % | Notes |
| Central | Fijian | Edward Cakobau | Alliance Party | Unopposed | Re-elected | |
| General | Lindsay Verrier | Alliance Party | Unopposed | Elected | ||
| Indo-Fijian | Abdul Lateef | Alliance Party | 15,598 | Elected | ||
| Madho Singh Tikaram | Federation Party | 13,487 | ||||
| C. P. Singh | Independent | 7,989 | Unseated | |||
| Shiu Narayan Kanhai | Independent | 1,505 | ||||
| M. Azam | Independent | 987 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 1,584 | – | ||||
| Northern and Eastern | Fijian | Kamisese Mara | Alliance Party | 26,025 | Re-elected | |
| Nemani Waka | Independent | 8,635 | ||||
| Informal | 885 | – | ||||
| General | Douglas Brown | Alliance Party | 21,208 | Elected | ||
| James Ah Koy | Independent | 5,604 | ||||
| David Whippy | Independent | 2,622 | ||||
| Trevor McNally | Independent | 976 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 11,518 | – | ||||
| Indo-Fijian | Vijay R. Singh | Alliance Party | 26,634 | Elected | ||
| Vijay Singh | Federation Party | 8,068 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 808 | – | ||||
| Western | Fijian | Joshua Toganivalu | Alliance Party | 25,960 | Elected | |
| Penaia Rokovuni | Federation Party | 23,171 | ||||
| Isikeli Nadalo | National Democratic Party | 4,242 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 2,085 | – | ||||
| General | Loloma Livingston | Alliance Party | 23,768 | Elected | ||
| Peter Davis | Independent | 22,677 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 8,882 | – | ||||
| Indo-Fijian | K. S. Reddy | Alliance Party | 28,200 | Elected | ||
| Deo Narayan | Federation Party | 25,509 | ||||
| Invalid votes | 1,729 | – | ||||
| Source: Fiji Elections | ||||||
Aftermath
Following the elections, the two independents joined the Alliance Party.[1]
Most Indo-Fijian members stopped attending Legislative Council meetings in 1967 after the government refused to amend the electoral system. After they missed three meetings, the nine Indo-Fijian communal seats were declared vacant and a series of by-elections held in 1968.
