MY STORY.... FINALLY COMPLETED AND PUBLISHED IN WANSOLWARA

PICTURE: People standing in line awaiting their turn to vote



BOOK GIVES NEW INSIGHT INTO FIJI ELECTIONS
BY SAILOSI TOGANIVALU


A book dissecting Fiji’s 2006 elections is set for release by the University of the South Pacific.

Publisher Dr Jon Fraenkel, a Senior Researcher at the Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Governance & Development, said the book featured research and analysis by academics, researchers and journalists who were in one way or another involved with the election process.

Entitled “Polarisation and Power-Sharing: The Paradox of Fiji’s 2006 Election”, the book is the first since 1963 to be focused specifically on one of Fiji’s general elections.

The Vice-President, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, wrote the preface. Contributors include eminent historian, Professor Brij Lal and Lancaster University PhD student Jonathan Prasad.

Professor Lal’s article is entitled ‘Impressions on the Campaign Trail’, while Prasad’s work is on ‘The Role of Muslim and Hindu Religious Organisations’.

Fraenkel said that while articles had been written about past elections, the latest book provided a wider perspective on the Fiji situation.

This is because for the first time, a broad range of different authors from different walks of life are contributing their thoughts and experiences.

Aside from the election, the book looks at the aftermath of the process, including the formation of a multi-party cabinet.

There are two chapters of interest to Fijian readers, the first concerning Northern Tailevu and the second about the ‘Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua’ (SDL) party, which won the past two elections.

Anare Tuitoga, a former USP history/politics student, wrote the article on Northern Tailevu. He looks at the political situation and the basis of ethnic Fijian politics in that part of the country.

Dr Alumita Durutalo, who wrote the chapter on the SDL, said her article examines the strategies adopted by the party in 2001 and 2006.

Durutalo said university students specialising in politics, governance and Pacific Studies would find the book useful.

Fraenkel’s main publications are concerned with Pacific electoral systems, contemporary Melanesian political crises and Oceanic economic history.

This book follows a string of published articles he has written about the effects of Fiji’s alternative vote system and the issues raised in the 1999, 2001 and 2006 polls.