Is former Fiji PM Frank Bainimarama’s political career over?

Fiji's former PM Frank Bainimarama. Photo / RNZ, Koroi Hawkins

By RNZ

An expert on Melanesian politics believes recent developments signal the end of former prime minister Frank Bainimarama’s political career.

Bainimarama recently resigned unexpectedly from Parliament and a day later he spent the night in jail on abuse of office charges before being bailed.

The former military strongman-turned-democratically elected PM held onto power for more than 16 years before his FijiFirst party was turfed out by a coalition of three parties in the election last December.

Before quitting Parliament he was suspended for three years for making seditious comments as leader of the opposition.

He was ordered to publicly apologise, which he did via a Facebook post, but denied the comments were seditious.

In his resignation speech, he rubbished the suspension and said he would remain the leader of FijiFirst and would spend more time in communities nationwide.

He also told local media after his court appearance last Friday that he will defend the charges brought against him and will “defend his legacy and democracy”.

But professor in comparative politics at the Victoria University of Wellington Jon Fraenkel said the sun could be setting on the political career of one of the most dominant figures in Pacific politics in the past two decades.

Fraenkel said the ex-PM’s remarks during the first sitting of Parliament denouncing the President and appealing to the rank and file of the military to uphold the 2013 constitution were “very provocative”.

“One suspects that he said these things in the heat of the moment rather than expecting to be suspended in the way that he was,” he told Pacific Waves.

“He is clearly a very angry man but I think some of the steam has gone out of Bainimarama’s attacks against the government. He sounds a little bit more like a defeated man.

“I suspect that the game is up and that Bainimarama is not going to be able to offer a concerted challenge to the People’s Alliance government coming from opposition in four years’ time,” he said.

He said other high-profile resignations by Bainimarama’s core supporters have signalled that things could go from bad to worse.

“I think we’re beginning to see FijiFirst transition into something else,” he said.

“FijiFirst claims to be not a party but a movement. But it’s never really been either a movement or a party. It’s never tried to establish local branches or does not want to contest local elections. It has been an organisation totally rooted in the state.

“We have seen a couple of former ministers resign rather than taking a place on the opposition benches and we may see more of that in future.

“It is likely that the parliamentary FijiFirst party will start to have different kinds of relationships with government and will not be as coherent as it was under the previous two terms,” he added.

Ex-MP to replace Bainimarama

Sachida Nand will replace Bainimarama in Parliament.

Nand, a former MP, was the FijiFirst Party’s 30th-ranked candidate in the 2022 General Election.

He received 530 votes, which was 0.26 per cent of the total votes the party received.

He will become the fourth FijiFirst replacement in Parliament.

Alipate Tuicolo replaced former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Penione Ravunawa replaced Mahendra Reddy, while Virendra Lal, who replaces Rosy Akbar, is expected to take his oath with Nand during the next sitting of Parliament, scheduled for late this month.