Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua - 2005 Municipal Election

2005 Municipal Election

• See main article: Fiji municipal election, 2005

The SDL contested many of the mayoral and council positions throughout Fiji in the municipal elections scheduled for 22 October 2005. In many towns, the SDL was aligned with the National Federation Party (NFP), but in Suva, the two parties feuded over what the NFP claimed was a breach of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties after the last municipal elections, held in 2002. According to the NFP, the agreement specified that each party would hold the Mayoralty of Suva for one year, with the two parties jointly choosing the Lord Mayor in the third year. The NFP accuses the SDL of having broken the agreement by forging a coalition in 2004 with the Fiji Labour Party to retain the Mayoralty. SDL Secretary Jale Baba denied on 19 October 2005 that his party had breached the agreement, saying that Umaria was putting his own spin on it; there was no agreement on sharing the Mayoralty in the third year, Baba said. The election was a bittersweet experience for the SDL; they gained a majority in their own right in Suva, but lost control of Nasinu, Fiji's largest municipality.