Until a few months ago, Josiah Voreqe “Frank” Bainimarama was the only national leader many young Fijians had ever known.
First as head of a military regime and then as prime minister and leader of the Fiji First party, Bainimarama ruled the archipelago for 16 years. But in late December, Fiji for the first time experienced a change of government via the ballot box rather than at the barrel of a gun.
The country’s new government is a three-party coalition of the People’s Alliance Party, the National Federation Party and the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) and a hopeful sign that Fiji is moving away from “coup culture.”
Please click here to read the full “Fiji is trying to move beyond ‘coup culture’” article published at Nikkei Asia, written by Griffith Asia Institute’s Pacific Hub Lead, Dr Tess Newton Cain.
