Not 147
Acting Prime Minister and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum reminded the Parliament it is not FijiFirst who has won with a narrow margin but it was SODELPAs predecessor Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua Party which had won by 17 votes and formed Government.
Over the past few days, almost all members of the Opposition claimed that FijiFirst won with only 147 votes.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum corrected this false assertion and taught the Opposition some facts about elections held before 2014.
“The obsession by the Opposition to say that FijiFirst won by 147 votes is not correct. Let me remind those who are on the opposite side- FijiFirst has a majority of 50.02 per cent of the votes. SODELPA has 39.85 per cent and NFP with only 7.38 per cent. That is a big difference.
“The five Opposition political parties with 200 candidates as they claim as part of the Opposition votes with
their combined resources and combined lies could not defeat FijiFirst. 200 candidates against 51 of us. They were all on one side, Madam Speaker.
“Of course, NFP was doing all sorts of shenanigans and deals and what-have-you. FijiFirst, Madam Speaker, has 13,000 more votes than SO- DELPA and NFP combined.”
“SODELPA should remember, Madam Speaker, that 273,000 Fijian voters rejected them. Approximately 428,000 voters rejected NFP and told them that they are not fit for Parliament. Madam Speaker, if the voter turnout was higher or similar to 2014, especially in the Western and Central divisions, FijiFirst would have got more than 30 seats.
“SODELPA should not celebrate. They perhaps have the rain to thank, Madam Speaker.”
2001 and 2006 election results:
The SDL in 2001 received only 26 per cent of the total votes, but with a majority of 32 seats in Parliament while Fiji Labour Party with 34.8 per cent of the votes, got only 28 seats.
“NFP, of course,were doing much better than now. They got 11.7 per cent of the votes but did not win a single seat,
Madam Speaker. “In 2006, Madam Speaker, SDL with 44.6 percent of the votes got a 36 seat majority and they won by one seat. And guess what, Madam Speaker, the seat that they won, they won by only 17 votes.
“Honourable Lalabalavu knows this, it was the Laucala Open Constituency. Nobody talked about tyranny of the majority then.”
Voter turnout:
“Madam Speaker, they also don’t tell us that the voter turnout in 2006 was actually 64 per cent. They now claim that this 70 per cent is too low notwithstanding the rain. They are not admitting the fact that voter turnout was 84 per cent in 2014.”
The invalid votes of 2014 was 0.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent in 2018 while in 2006 and 2001, invalid votes were nine per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
“Some of them continue to spew lies and not recognise the facts. If you want to come with clean hands in this House, Madam Speaker, you must recognise the facts,” he said.
Mitieli Bulanauca:
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said it was a proven fact that things were taken out of context in politics. He gave the example of how a current SODELPA
MP Mitieli Bulanauca was giving a speech at the Suva foreshore as the Mahendra Chaudhry-led Government was being removed during the 2000 coup.
“I have here with me, Mad- am Speaker, a documentary by Larry Thomas where Honourable Bulanauca was giving as speech as Mahendra Chaudhry’s Government was being taken over.
“Who is the head? The first, legislature – Chaudhry. He is a Hindu. Satan. The second, the executive. Who is the head?Chaudhry.HeisaHindu. Satan. The third – security. Who is incharge? The NFP is no longer there but they brought back another Hindu – Jai Ram Reddy. The Constitution is Jai Ram Reddy’s, the 1997 Constitution. Let us not be idle but be alert, let us be awake, let us fight for the truth, the truth of Jehovah.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said when he mimicked former SODELPA MP Isoa Tikoca as Darth Vader in Parliament, everyone including him and the Madam Speaker, had laughed.
However, to give it a political twist, Ratu Isoa came back to the house three days later to claim that Mr Sayed- Khaiyum mimicked him as a monkey.
Edited by Naisa Koroi
