Fiji’s Parliament on Friday elected Sitiveni Rabuka as the country’s new prime minister after a coalition of parties voted in his favor, marking the end of Frank Bainimarama’s 16 years in power.
With 28 votes in favor (compared to 27 for his predecessor), Rabuka has become the Oceanic country’s new ‘premier’ more than a week after a national election in which no party won a majority of seats, ‘The Fiji Times’ has reported.
However, although Rabuka obtained fewer seats than Bainimarama, he has reached an agreement with minority parties to be sworn in and form a coalition government.
Specifically, Rabuka’s People’s Alliance has allied with the Social Democratic Liberal Party of Fiji (SODELPA) and the National Federation Party.
This inauguration puts an end to the mandate of Bainimarama, who had been in power since 2006, when, as head of the Armed Forces, he staged a coup d’état. After eight years in power, he called general elections in 2014 in which he won with nearly 60 percent of the votes.
Rabuka also has a controversial past in the Fijian Army, since in 1987, when he was a colonel, he instigated two military coups against the government elected at the polls, which allowed him to remain in office for much of the 1990s.
All in all, Fiji has been central to the strategically located South Pacific’s response to the growing competition for influence between China and the United States. Rabuka has reiterated on many occasions that he favors Western-style democracy.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
