The Christian Democratic Alliance, better known locally by its Fijian

Fijian language

Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 450,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language...

 name, Veitokani ni Lewenivanua Vakarisito (VLV), was a Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

an political party that operated in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The party was founded in 1997 when a faction of the then-ruling Fijian Political Party (SVT) broke away, but was not registered until February 1999. Rev. Ratu Josaia Rayawa

Josaia Rayawa

Ratu Josaia Naulumatua Rayawa is a Fijian Chief, religious minister, and political leader. He served in the Senate from 2001 to 2006 as one of nine nominees of the Fijian government...

 was appointed President of the party, with Ratu Epeli Ganilau

Epeli Ganilau

Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Ganilau, MC, MSD, is a Fijian soldier and statesman, who currently heads the National Alliance Party of Fiji. His career has previously encompassed such roles as Commander of the Fiji Military Forces and Chairman of the Bose Levu Vakaturaga...

, son of former Fijian President Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau

Penaia Ganilau

Ratu Sir Penaia Kanatabatu Ganilau, GCMG, KCVO, KBE, DSO was the first President of Fiji, serving from 8 December 1987 until his death in 1993...

 and son-in-law of the then-current President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara

Kamisese Mara

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...

, as interim leader. Other prominent members of the party included Adi Koila Nailatikau

Koila Nailatikau

Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau is a Fijian lawyer, who has served as a diplomat and politician.- Family background :Vasemaca Koila Josephine Mara was born in 1953...

 (Mara's daughter and Ganilau's sister-in-law), Poseci Bune

Poseci Bune

Poseci Waqalevu Bune is a Fijian politician, who has served as Deputy Leader of the Fiji Labour Party . From June to December 2006, he served as Minister for the Environment, one of nine FLP ministers, in the multiparty Cabinet of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase...

, Rev. Manasa Lasaro (a former Secretary-General of the Methodist Church, who had advocated banning all commercial and sporting activities on Sundays), and Josefa Vosanibola

Josefa Vosanibola

Josefa Bole Vosanibola is a Fijian politician, who has served as Minister for Home Affairs since 16 December 2004, when he was appointed by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to succeed Joketani Cokanasiga...

.

In the general election

Fiji election of 1999

General elections were held in Fiji between 8 and 15 May 1999. They were the first election held under the revised Constitution of 1997, which instituted a new electoral system and resulted in Mahendra Chaudhry taking office as Fiji's first Indo-Fijian Prime Minister.-Electoral system:Previously,...

 of 1999, the VLV was widely seen as playing a spoiler role. Campaigning on a platform of strengthening anti-corruption laws, establishing programs to eradicate poverty, and reinforcing the family unit, it took 19 percent of the indigneous Fijian

Fijian people

Fijian people are the major indigenous people of the Fiji Islands, and live in an area informally called Melanesia. The Fijian people are believed to have arrived in Fiji from western Melanesia approximately 3,500 years ago, though the exact origins of the Fijian people are unknown...

 vote, mostly at the expense of the SVT, which lost the election. Ganilau himself failed to win a seat, however, and Bune replaced him as leader. The VLV joined the People's Coalition government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Pal Chaudhry is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party...

, and Bune and Nailatikau were appointed to the Cabinet.

The VLV splintered in the political realignment that followed the coup d'état

Fiji coup of 2000

The Fiji coup of 2000 was a complicated affair involving a civilian putsch by hardline Fijian nationalists against the elected government of a non-native Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, on 19 May 2000, the attempt by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to assert executive authority on 27 May, and...

, which deposed the Chaudhry government. Many of its members, including Rayawa and Vosanibola, joined the new Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua

Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua

The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua is a political party in Fiji...

 of interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase

Laisenia Qarase

Laisenia Qarase is a Fijian political figure. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment...

, while others, including Bune, joined the Fiji Labour Party

Fiji Labour Party

The Fiji Labour Party is a political party in Fiji, which holds observer status with the Socialist International. Most of its support at present comes from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. It is...

 of deposed Prime Minister Chaudhry. A rump of the party continued under the leadership of Taniela Tabu and fielded two candidates, unsuccessfully, in the general election

Fiji election of 2001

The Constitution of Fiji was restored by a High Court decision on 15 November 2000, following the failure of the political upheaval in which the government had been deposed and the constitution suspended in May that year. On 1 March 2001, the Appeal Court upheld the decision. An election to...

 held to restore democracy in September 2001, but most members of this rump subsequently merged with members of the SVT and the New Labour Unity Party

New Labour Unity Party (Fiji)

The New Labour Unity Party was a Fijian political party, which broke away from the Fiji Labour Party in May 2001. It was founded by Tupeni Baba, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Party stalwart, who had become dissatisfied with Mahendra Chaudhry's leadership and expressed fears that if...

 to form the Fiji Democratic Party

Fiji Democratic Party

The Fiji Democratic Party is a former political party in Fiji, which operated between June 2002 and April 2005.It was founded by Filipe Bole, a former Cabinet Minister, as a merger of the Fijian Political Party , the Fijian Association Party, the Christian Democratic Alliance, and the New Labour...

 under the leadership of the former SVT leader Filipe Bole

Filipe Bole

Filipe Nagera Bole is a Fijian politician who hails from the village of Mualevu on the island of Vanuabalavu in the Lau Group. He has long had a reputation as one of Fiji's few politicians untainted by scandal, and is noted for his moderate views...

. In 2005, this party merged into the new National Alliance Party of Fiji

National Alliance Party of Fiji

The National Alliance Party of Fiji is a Fijian political party. It was formally registered on 18 January 2005 by Ratu Epeli Ganilau, as the claimed successor to the defunct Alliance Party, which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987 under the leadership of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Ganilau's...

, founded by the former VLV leader, Ratu Epeli Ganilau.