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The fifth general election since independence was held from 4 April to 11 April 1987.

 

Qualification to be registered as a voter

Any person may be registered as voter on a roll if he is a citizen of Fiji and has attained the age of 21 years. The insane, those owing allegiance to a State outside the British Commonwealth, those under sentence of death or imprisonment for a term exceeding 12 months, and those guilty of offences connected with elections may not be registered. Voting was not compulsory.

 

Composition of the House of Representatives

The House of Representatives consisted of 52 members elected for 5 years on the following basis:

— Fijian: 12 members elected by voters on the Fijian Communal Roll;

    10 members elected by voters on the National Roll.

— Indian: 12 members elected by voters on the Indian Communal Roll;

   10 members elected by voters on the National Roll.

— General (persons neither Fijian, other Pacific Islanders, nor Indians):

   3 members elected by voters on the General Communal Roll;

   5 members elected on the National Roll.

The " National Roll" consists of all registered electors on the 3 Communal Rolls.

 

Qualification to be a candidate

Any voter shall be qualified to be elected as member of the House of Representatives,  however, the following are disqualified:

- any one who is an undischarged bankrupt is disqualified.
- who holds a public office;
- who has in the preceding 3 years held certain government posts;
- who is interested in certain government contracts;

- who holds any office connected with an election to the House.

 

Candidatures must be submitted on a nomination paper signed by 6 to 8 voters of the subject constituency, and accompanied by a deposit of $100.

 

Constituencies

Fiji is divided into 9 constituencies, each returning one communally elected Fijian member; into 9 constituencies each returning one communally elected Indian member; and into 3 constituencies each returning 1 communally elected General member. For the National Roll elections there are 10 constituencies, each returning a Fijian and an Indian member, and these are combined into 5 pairs for the purpose of each returning 1 General member.

 

Constituency boundaries are delimited by a Constituency Boundaries Commission.

 

Each voter is entitled to cast 4 votes: 1 in respect of the Communal Roll constituency in which he is registered, and 3 in respect of the National Roll constituencies in which he is registered

 

Election Result
The campaign was marked by sporadic violence. The opposition coalition comprising the National Federation Party (NFP) and the Fiji Labour Party (formed in 1985) pledged to pursue a foreign policy of nonalignment and to ban nuclear weapons from Fiji territory and, on the domestic front, focused on the issues of increased social services, lower taxes, land reform and government corruption. The ruling Alliance Party (AP) emphasized the country's booming economy and was supported by most indigenous Fijians, while the coalition, and especially the NFP, was backed by the island's Indian community.

 

On polling day, the conservative Alliance Party was voted out of power for the first time since independence in 1970 as its loss of five seats was picked up by the coalition. On 13 April, Labour leader Timoci Bavadra took office as Prime Minister to head the nation's first Government of mainly ethnic Indian rather than Melanesian origin; he announced the formation of his Cabinet the next day. On 14 May, however, the new Government was deposed in a military coup d'Etat.