View source for Local elections in Fiji

{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}
{{Politics of Fiji}}

'''Local elections''' in [[Fiji]] are held for two [[City|cities]] ([[Suva]] and [[Lautoka]]) and ten [[town]]s ([[Ba (town)|Ba]], [[Labasa]], [[Lami, Fiji|Lami]], [[Levuka]], [[Nadi, Fiji|Nadi]], [[Nausori]], [[Nasinu]], [[Savusavu]], [[Sigatoka]], and [[Tavua, Fiji|Tavua]]). Each city or town has a council comprising between 8 and 20 members, elected for three-year terms, although the government announced legislation on 15 February 2006 to extend the term to four years.  Each city or town council elects from among its own members a [[Mayor]] (or [[Lord Mayor of Suva|Lord Mayor]] in the case of [[Suva]]) for one year.  Consecutive terms are permitted.

==Electoral politics==
Electoral politics in municipal elections has certain characteristics that set it apart from national politics.  [[List of political parties in Fiji|Political parties]] often do regard municipal polls as a trial run for [[Elections in Fiji|national elections]]; in the 1985 [[1985 Fiji municipal election|election]] for the [[Suva City Council]], for example, the newly formed [[Fiji Labour Party]] (FLP) showed that it was on the rise by winning 8 of the 20 seats.  It went on to win the [[1987 Fijian general election|parliamentary election]] in 1987.  Local issues also come into play, however:  
* At the national level, the [[National Federation Party]] (NFP) was left unrepresented in the [[House of Representatives of Fiji|House of Representatives]] after the disastrous results of the [[1999 Fijian general election|1999]] and [[2001 Fijian general election|2001]] elections, but remained strong at the municipal level. In 2006, the NFP retained power in [[Ba (town)|Ba]] and [[Nadi]], shared power in a [[coalition]] with the [[Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua]] (SDL) in [[Sigatoka]], and was the second largest party in the Suva City Council.  
* In 2003, Suva's 5 councillors from the FLP teamed up with the 7 councillors from the [[Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua]] (SDL) - its arch-rival in national politics - to elect the SDL candidate, [[Peni Volavola|Ratu Peni Volavola]], to the office of Lord Mayor.
* In the city of [[Lautoka]], a purely local political party, the Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance, contested the 2005 election (but failed to win any seats).  A number of other parties operating only at the municipal level contested other town councils, winning control of councils in [[Labasa]], [[Lami, Fiji|Lami]], [[Levuka]], [[Nausori]], [[Savusavu]], and [[Tavua, Fiji|Tavua]]. Some have been unsuccessful.

==Post-2006 developments==
The regime that took power in a [[2006 Fijian coup d'état|military coup]] on 5 December 2006 later dismissed all elected municipal bodies, appointing Special Administrators to run the cities and towns. In some cases, a single Administrator was responsible for more than one town. As of 2015, elected municipal government has not been restored.

{{Fijian elections}}

[[Category:Municipal elections in Fiji| ]]

{{Fiji-stub}}
{{Oceania-election-stub}}