FijiFirst

FijiFirst was a liberal political party in Fiji. The party was formed in March 2014 by then Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama. It was deregistered on 1 July 2024.

Formation and history

The party was launched on 31 March 2014 with Bainimarama beginning a nationwide tour of the country in a campaign bus to collect the obligatory 5000 signatures necessary to register a political party.
The party collected over 40,000 signatures for its registration.
Bainimarama says FijiFirst is a name that encompasses his political beliefs.
He announced his first candidate as party president Jiko Luveni.
The party appointed former Fiji Labour Party senator Bijai Prasad as one of its Vice Presidents as well as the current Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as the party General secretary. Bijai Prasad resigned as VP a day later citing a criminal conviction for larceny in the 1980s for which he had served jail time. The Tui Macuata, Ratu Wiliame Katonivere was also selected as a vice president of the party. Vimlesh Kumar who is an accountant and an affiliate member of CPA Australia is listed as the treasurer.
The party's application for registration resulted in six complaints, including one claiming that "Fiji 1st" was previously used by another party. Despite this, the party was registered on 30 May 2014.

2014 election

The party released its first batch of 21 candidates on July 25, 2014 with Frank Bainimarama heading the list. As a result of the 2014 Fijian general elections, the party won 293,714 votes, 59.2% of all those who voted, giving the party a clear majority with 32 of the 50 Parliamentary seats.

2018 election

The party ran 51 candidates in the 2018 elections, ten of which were women. FijiFirst won the 2018 general elections with a reduced majority from the 2014 elections. FijiFirst accumulated 227,241 of the votes that resulted on the party gaining 50.02% that allocated to 27 seats enough for the party to govern alone within a slim majority.

2022 election

Despite remaining the first party in the 2022 election FijiFirst saw its vote share reducing again down to 42.55%, causing the party to lose its majority in the Parliament. With only 3 seats the SODELPA emerged as kingmaker, and after 6 days of negotiations it decided to support a PAP-led cabinet, effectively ending FijiFirst's eight-year tenure and Bainimarama's 16-year premiership.
On 29 March 2023, Inia Seruiratu was elected as the Leader of the Opposition taking over from Frank Bainimarama. However, Bainimarama remained party leader.
On 18 May 2023 the party was suspended and prohibiting from acting as a political party for 30 days for failing to submit annual accounts. The suspension was lifted on 9 June after the party submitted audited accounts.
On 11 December 2023 Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum resigned as general secretary of the FijiFirst party.

Collapse and dissolution

On 31 May 2024 FijiFirst sacked 17 of its 26 MPs after they voted to increase their salaries against a party directive. When the MPs announced they would challenge their removal from Parliament, the party's administration, including party president Ratu Joji Satalaka, vice Presidents Selai Adimaitoga and Ravindran Nair, acting general secretary Faiyaz Koya, treasurer Hem Chand, as well as founding members Frank Bainimarama, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and Salesh Kumar all resigned. On 14 June Speaker of the House Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu ruled that the 17 MPs were not disqualified, as FijiFirst's notification was signed by Bainimarama, who as a convicted criminal could not exercise any functions in a registered political party. During the dispute the registrar of political parties was informed that the party did not have a legally-required dispute resolution mechanism in its constitution, and threatened to dissolve it if this was not remedied. The party was deregistered on 1 July 2024, its MPs becoming independents.