Indians in Fiji - Developments Since 1945

Developments Since 1945

A post-war effort by European members of the Legislative Council to repatriate ethnic Indians to India, starting with sixteen-year-old males and fourteen-year-old females, was not successful, but reflected the tensions between Fiji's ethnic communities.

Differences between ethnic Fijian taukeis and Fijian indians complicated preparations for Fijian independence, which the United Kingdom granted in 1970, and have continued to define Fijian politics since. Prior to independence, Indians sought a common electoral roll, based on the principle of "one man, one vote." Ethnic Fijian leaders opposed this, believing that it would favour urban voters who were mostly Indian; they sought a communal franchise instead, with different ethnic groups voting on separate electoral rolls. At a specially convened conference in London in April 1970, a compromise was worked out, under which parliamentary seats would be allocated by ethnicity, with ethnic Fijian taukeis and Fijian indians represented equally. In the House of Representatives, each ethnic group was allocated 22 seats, with 12 representing Communal constituencies (elected by voters registered as members of their particular ethnic group) and a further 10 representing National constituencies (distributed by ethnicity but elected by universal suffrage. A further 8 seats were reserved for ethnic minorities, 3 from "communal" and 5 from "national" constituencies.

In 1987, shortly after a coalition government was formed that represented both communities, two military coups were staged by low-ranking Fijian officers that aimed at sidelining the Indian community in politics.

Ethnic Indians outnumbered indigenous Fijians from 1956 through the late 1980s. This was due to the death of 1/3 of the indigenous population, mainly male and children, that died from small pox contracted when King Cakabau and other chief leaders returned from a trip from Australia during which they caught small pox. The percentage of Indigenous female population increased as a result, and the native male population was scarce at one stage, but by 2000 their share of the population had declined to 43.7%, because of a higher ethnic-Fijian birthrate and particularly because of the greater tendency of Fijian Indians to emigrate. Emigration accelerated following the coups of 1987 (which removed an Indian-supported government from power and, for a time, ushered in a constitution that discriminated against them in numerous ways) and of 2000 (which removed an Indian Prime Minister from office).

Political differences between the two communities, rather than ideological differences, have characterized Fijian politics since independence, with the two communities generally voting for different political parties. The National Federation Party founded by A.D. Patel, was the party favoured overwhelmingly by the Indian community throughout most of the nation's history, but its support collapsed in the parliamentary election of 1999, when it lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives; its support fell further still in the 2001 election, when it received only 22% of the Indian vote, and in the 2006 election, when it dropped to an all-time low of 14%. The party currently favoured by Indians is the Fiji Labour Party, led by Mahendra Chaudhry, which received about 75% of the Indian vote in 2001, and won all 19 seats reserved for Indians. Originally founded as a multi-racial party in the 1980s, it is now supported mostly by Indians.