Fiji’s Bainimarama still topping the polls

FIJI – Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama has continued to score highly in the latest poll by Tebbutt Research. Seventy-eight per cent of the 982 people surveyed over three days earlier this month said he was doing a very good or good job. Forty-four percent said he was their preferred prime minister. It’s a slight drop from last year but the FijiFirst leader remains well ahead of his nearest rival Sitiveni Rabuka who leads the largest opposition party Sodelpa. A scholar of Fiji politics Steven Ratuva said the large number who are undecided on their preferred prime minister are significant with the next election looming. “Something like 30 per cent or so couldn’t make up their mind, so that is a very significant number in relation to people changing their mind when the election comes. “It looks like Bainimarama is far ahead in terms of the election and perhaps one of the reasons as well why they want to have the election early, maybe as early as April instead of September, because I think the poll is in their favour at this point in time.” The poll has Sitiveni Rabuka, the leader of the main opposition party Sodelpa, sitting on 11 per cent as preferred leader. Ratuva said Rabuka is struggling to mobilise support within the Sodelpa party because his leadership has split the party. “One fragment is led by Ro Teimumu Kepa and one led by Rabuka – and the party has been in a bit of disarray as a result of factionalism within the party itself. “Rabuka hasn’t been able to mobilise the kind of support that one would have expected him given his high profile, to be able to stamp his authority within the party. “Given time it might go up above 11 per cent but I think one of the challenges for Sodelpa is being able to sort out internal differences within the party. “Ro Teimumu had a lot of respect and support within the party and amongst a lot of Fijians, particularly the more traditional supporters. “Rabuka has been out of politics for a long time and is struggling to get his status back. He’s been away from politics for 19 years and is trying his best to find a niche in the new political dynamics in Fiji.” Lately their has been talk from the oppostiin parties of galvanising and forming a coalition. “The talk of coalition has been there all the time even before the 2014 election,”Ratuva said. “One of the difficulties in forming a coalition is that you have political parties having different political ideologies, even personal interests. “They have different histories, different, if you like, ideological standpoints, and most of all because Fiji’s new electoral system, where there are 50 seats and you have an open single constituency, forming a coalition can be a challenge for political parties. “This is because if they form a coalition before the election then they have to take the risk of negotiating to reduce the number of candidates which they put forward – which means that they might create tension even within their own parties. So one of the possibilities is to have a coalition after the election. “The idea of the parties ganging up together against FijiFirst is something we will see in the next election and I think the parties may even campaign together and may even do compromises in terms of supporting certain candidates together.” - Dateline Pacific