EDITORIAL: Lynda Tabuya Strengthens Her Position To Become A Future SODELPA leader

It is a breath of fresh air to see more women in politics contesting a General Election. Lynda Tabuya has emerged with a strong stake in her SODELPA party.

Women are repre­sented in the three parties that are likely to have mem­bers in Parliament when the final re­sults are confirmed on Sunday.

Ms Tabuya has silenced her critics by scoring the second -highest votes for SODELPA after her party leader Sitiveni Rabuka.

There has been speculation that she is Mr Rabuka’s protégé. This could be Mr Rabuka’s last election be­fore he retires.

Ms Tabuya has been a loyal ally of Mr Rabuka from the start of the campaign. She stood by Mr Rabuka’s side during some of his most difficult moments such as his court case.

Her election success now lends weight to that leader­ship speculation.

In fact she has surprised a lot of people who did not know her well.

Now they know her well and her capability.

Ms Tabuya’s performance was built on the back of a solid strategic campaign which targeted young people, women and workers.

She had meticulously mapped out her strategy when she decided to leave the People’s Democratic Party for SODELPA.

She realised that SODELPA would provide the plat­form to relaunch her political career after her failure in 2014 for PDP. The departure of former leader Felix Anthony and party pioneer Adi Sivia Qoro started a chain of events that led to the demise of PDP.

Ms Tabuya realised that the only way to keep her po­litical dreams alive was to switch to SODELPA.

She walked right into the height of an internal bick­ering within the party linked to governance issues and leadership.

But she cleverly manoeuvered her way around through a memorandum of understanding she signed with Mr Rabuka. The MOU was between SODELPA and PDP.

It legitimised her joining SODELPA and set the course for her climb to fame.

Who would ever thought that she would poll substan­tially more votes than Ro Teimumu, who scored the highest number of votes for SODELPA in the 2014 elec­tion?

She raised SODELPA’s profile when she took her fight for workers to the ATS workers strike and the subse­quent big march through Nadi town.

In the densely-populated Suva and Nausori corridor, she is regarded as the “queen” of Wakanisila, Nasinu. This was where she was born and raised. This was also where she relaunched her political career after her failed PDP campaign in 2014. They are singing her praises there for her community service.

Ms Tabuya must now be regarded as one of the seri­ous contenders for leadership. Other likely contend­ers include Aseri Radrodro, Ro Filipe Tuisawau and Tanya Waqanika.

She has now given SODELPA what it lacked before, a voice for women, youth and liberalism.

The Suva lawyer and mother has no shortage of sup­port.

If SODELPA is to choose Mr Rabuka’s deputy and eventual successor, Ms Tabuya is a worthy candidate.

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