Fiji’s 2022 General Election will be a highly contested one that can only be won by political parties that work together says former politician, Mick Beddoes.
Speaking to FBC News, Beddoes believes Fiji’s political landscape is evolving, predicting that it’s very likely that no party can win outright to replace the FijiFirst government.
But Beddoes warns all those that intend to work with Sitiveni Rabuka and his People’s Alliance.
The Former SODELPA Politician says that current stats, figures and trends indicate that parties will have to work together or form a coalition after the General Election if they want to form a government.
“No one party, not FijiFirst, not the People’s Alliance Party, no one is going to win outright. No one. Too many variables that are in the mix but one thing that I’m almost sure of, can’t be certain, but I’m almost sure of is that no one party is going to make the number or make the cut to form it outright. And when that happens that’s when the horse-trading starts.”
Already, some Political parties are working with other parties with the intention to form a post general election coalition.
Sitiveni Rabuka’s newly formed People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party (NFP) are now collaborating in the hopes of securing more votes collectively to defeat Fijifirst.
“We do not want to poach anyone from the National Federation Party. I want both parties to be strong. The National Federation Party cannot be as strong as it can be if we started poaching some of their good candidates away from them. I would encourage them to stand for NFP because that’s what they have believed in all their political lives.”
But this new friendship of convenience is certainly causing some confusion and probably more embarrassment for at least one politician.
Just last week businessman Charan Jeeth Singh resigned as a senior member of the NFP with the intention of joining Rabuka’s People’s Alliance, but where does this Alliance and Federation partnership leave Singh now?
“In any political party you must expect that there are interested groups in the party. People join political parties for whatever reason so at the end of the day, the leadership has to have the capability of saying, all the conflicting groups to come and sit down and we do it by normal everyday occurrence.”
But despite Rabuka’s tainted past, the NFP is looking at this year’s election as a do-or-die situation.
“We desperately need a new beginning and we at the National Federation Party and our friends in the People’s Alliance, want to bring Fiji’s people that new beginning.”
Smaller political parties are expected to work in unison with each other as we inch closer to the general elections.
But with smaller parties being disregarded by the larger opposition parties in recent times Fijifirst could be facing a challenge from just one coalition made up of PAP and NFP.
SOURCE: FBC NEWS/PACNEWS
