1982 Fijian general election

1982 Fijian general election

← September 1977 10–17 July 1982 1987 →

All 52 seats in the House of Representatives
26 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
NFP
Leader Kamisese Mara Jai Ram Reddy Osea Gavidi
Party Alliance NFP WUF
Last election 36 seats 15 seats
Seats won 28 22 2
Seat change Decrease 8 Increase 7 New
Popular vote 507,163 403,548 37,266
Percentage 51.79% 41.21% 3.81%
Swing Decrease 0.46pp Decrease 3.08pp New

Prime Minister before election

Kamisese Mara
Alliance

Elected Prime Minister

Kamisese Mara
Alliance

General elections were held in Fiji between 10 and 17 July 1982.[1] The paradoxical results were both a triumph and a setback for the Alliance Party of the Prime Minister, Kamisese Mara. The Alliance received 52% of the popular vote, only slightly down on its previous total, but won only 28 seats, eight fewer than in the previous elections of September 1977. Part of the reason for this discrepancy was that the slight surge in support for Mara's Alliance in the Indo-Fijian community, from 14 percent to 16 percent, was not sufficient to translate into seats in Fiji's communal electoral system, and did not therefore off-set losses among the ethnic Fijian community, particularly in the west of the country. The Western United Front of Osea Gavidi won only two seats, but split the vote, allowing the National Federation Party (NFP), with which it tactically allied itself, to gain seven seats for a total of 22. The NFP, which had split into two factions before the previous elections, had been reunited.

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II, p653 ISBN 0-19-924959-8