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United Fiji Party Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua | |
---|---|
President | Ratu Kalokalo Loki |
General Secretary | Jale Baba |
Founder | Laisenia Qarase |
Founded | 2001 |
Dissolved | January 2013 |
Succeeded by | Social Democratic Liberal Party |
Indo-Fijian wing | SDL Indian Wing |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre-right to right-wing |
The United Fiji Party (Fijian: Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, pronounced [soŋ.ɡo.soŋ.ɡo ndu.a.βa.ta ni le.ɰe.ni.βa.nu.a], SDL) was a political party in Fiji. It was founded in 2001 by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as a power base; it absorbed most of the Christian Democratic Alliance and other conservative groups, and its endorsement by the Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga) caused it to be widely seen as the successor to the Alliance Party, the former ruling party that had dominated Fijian politics from the 1960s to the 1980s. It drew its support mainly from indigenous Fijiians.
The party was led in Parliament by Prime Minister Qarase. The party organization was headed up by Ratu Kalokalo Loki as President and by Jale Baba as General Secretary (later termed National Director) until early 2006, when he was transferred at the beginning of 2006 to managing the campaign for the 2006 General Election. Peceli Kinivuwai took over as National Director.