Muslims and Politics
Since 1929, the Fiji Muslim League has sought to obtain separate representation for Muslims in the Legislative Council, and in Parliament (both the House of Representatives and the Senate) since 1970. Except for the period between 1932 and 1937, Muslims have been represented well in Fiji's Parliament. From 1937 to 1963, at least one Muslim was always nominated into the Legislative Council out of a total of five Indo-Fijian representatives. Thus Muslims were represented by 20% of the Indo-Fijian members in the Legislative Council when they formed approximately 15% of the Indo-Fijian population. In the expanded Legislative Council of 1963, a Muslim, Mohammad Sidiq Koya was elected for the first time, and Muslims held 2 of the 6 (33%) seats reserved for Indo-Fijians. (The other Muslim was nominated member, C.A. Shah). In the 1966 election, 4 of the 12 (33%) Indo-Fijian members were Muslims. These were Sidiq Koya, C.A. Shah, and Mohammed Towahir Khan for the Federation Party and Abdul Lateef for the Alliance Party. The Muslim Political Front was formed to advance Muslim political rights, and in 1966, it joined the newly formed Alliance Party. Voting trends have shown that most Muslims have always voted for the party best representing Indo-Fijian community, showing that their political aspirations are not different from the other 84% of the Indo-Fijian community.
Read more about this topic: Islam In Fiji
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