The Fiji Democratic Party is a former political party in 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...

, which operated between June 2002 and April 2005.

It was founded by 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...

, a former Cabinet Minister

Cabinet (Fiji)

Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime...

, as a merger of the Fijian Political Party (which had dominated the government in the 1990s), the Fijian Association Party

Fijian Association Party

The Fijian Association Party is a former political party in Fiji. It played a significant role in Fijian politics throughout the 1990s, but lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives in the parliamentary election of 2001....

, the Christian Democratic Alliance

Christian Democratic Alliance (Fiji)

The Christian Democratic Alliance, better known locally by its Fijian name, Veitokani ni Lewenivanua Vakarisito , was a Fijian political party that operated in the late 1990s and early 2000s....

, 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...

. All but the last of these had been eliminated from Parliament in the parliamentary 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...

 of 2001. The party aimed to secure a niche in the middle ground of Fijian politics

Politics of Fiji

Politics of Fiji takes place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. Fiji has a multi-party system with the Prime Minister of Fiji as head of government. The executive power is exercised by the government...

, offering a multiracial alternative to the United Fiji Party/Conservative Alliance

Conservative Alliance (Fiji)

The Conservative Alliance was a far-right political party in Fiji, and a member of the ruling coalition government. It was commonly known as the CAMV, a combination of the initials of its English and Fijian names...

 coalition of 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...

 (supported almost exclusively by indigenous Fijians

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...

) on the one hand, and 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 former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Chaudhry

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

 (supported mostly by Indo-Fijians) on the other. Among its policies was a proposal to abolish race-based voting and to introduce universal suffrage

Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

 for all electorates (at present, 46 of the 71 seats in the House of Representatives

House of Representatives (Fiji)

The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament. It is the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone has the power to initiate legislation...

 represent ethnic communities and are elected from closed electoral rolls).

In April 2005, the FDP announced its own dissolution and merger with the newly-formed 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 Ratu

Ratu

Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...

 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...

, a chief whose father

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 father-in-law

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...

 both served as President of Fiji. Filipe Bole has been appointed a spokesman for the new party.