Unity Fiji was established for the long haul. While we are naturally disappointed about the results of the 2018 elections, we are taking it as a positive sign for the future. We are committed to moving forward to better prepare for the next one.

In our assessment, the biggest challenge ahead of us is to convince voters not to follow the herd, but instead, vote on the attributes of leaders that can deliver to the people a peaceful, united and prosperous nation. We have a lot to do.

The upside is that we have four years to do them.

We will continue the fight

We fought the elections on issues that we believe would solve the root problems facing the people of Fiji. We will continue to fight for these issues:

1. a) We will continue to offer Fiji a national leadership that has the vision, experience and credibility to take this country towards our destination of peace and economic wellbeing.
2. b) We will continue to fight to create more jobs and reduce the rising poverty and escalating cost of living.
3. c) We will continue to fight for free education up to tertiary level.
4. d) We will continue to fight to raise the income of resource owners and lift the lives of their families to a better standard.

Roadmap to Peace

We firmly believe that our Roadmap to Peace (manifesto) offered the country a credible way forward to:

1. a) Provide dignity of living to everyone irrespective of race, religion and resource endowments;
2. b) Leave no one behind especially the poor and the vulnerable members of our communities; and
3. c) Empower everyone especially our youths to realise their dreams in a free and fair country.

We will fight unfairness

The lessons learnt from the experience of the last elections will better prepare us for the next one. First, we must continue to fight against unfairness:

1. a) We will continue to highlight to the voters the unfairness in the electoral system. The election date was kept secret until very late.

Moreover, the campaign period was unfairly short for the opposition parties especially a new party like us. It gives the Government a big unfair advantage.

1. b) We will fight to eradicate the unfairness of the media. Some of the media restricted public debates only to the political parties that were in Parliament.

Leaders of new parties like Unity Fiji would have brought significant impact to these debates if we were not shut out.

Some media offered time slots only to some parties and not to others. Some offered shorter time slots to new parties and longer slots to existing ones. This is most unfortunate as we look to the media to be the bastion of fairness and equity in our country.

Internal review

We have been busy reviewing our internal mechanisms and organisation to better contest the next elections:

1. a) We will expand our network in the communities to promote the awareness of what we offer to the people;
2. b) In the next four years, we aim to demonstrate that several initiatives in our manifesto can work;
3. c) We aim to secure our line-up of candidates early; and
4. d) We plan to secure a stronger financial position through our income earning initiatives.

We will be the Opposition not in

Parliament

Unity Fiji plans to be the Opposition that is not in Parliament. We aim to provide opinions on national issues and highlight those that are important to the people. In this regard, we hope to hold forums on important issues that we can broadcast widely through the social media.

We will unite the country

Very importantly, Unity Fiji will continue to pursue its founding mandate to unite the people of Fiji:

1. a) We will fight for our vision of unity in diversity of everyone in Fiji where identities are respected and protected.
2. b) We will fight to heal the wounds of our past that are imposing roadblocks to national unity.
3. c) We plan to roll out an awareness program to promote national unity.
4. d) We understand the importance of building political unity and we will promote dialogue on this important issue straight away.

Appreciation

Finally, I thank our supporters who voted and helped us in the last elections.

I stress that we are not a one-off movement. We are building for the future.

We believe that we present the future of politics in Fiji which is inclusive and visionary. We will continue the fight for what is important to the people.

We will continue to put the people first.

With the plans that we have already started to implement, I am confident that Unity Fiji will be much stronger by 2022 and I look forward to your continued support.