Ponipate Tawase Lesavua is 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 politician, who leads the Party of National Unity

Party of National Unity (Fiji)

The Party of National Unity is a Fijian political party founded by Ratu Sairusi Nagagavoka in 1998; as of 2006, Nagagavoka is the President of the party. A well-known member of the party was Apisai Tora...

, which draws most of its support from Ba Province

Local government of Fiji

Fiji is divided administratively into four divisions, which are further subdivided into fourteen provinces; the self-governing island of Rotuma and its dependencies lie outside any of the four divisions. Each division is headed by a Commissioner, appointed by the Fijian government...

 in the West of the country. The former Police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

 officer, who spent 20 years in the Criminal Investigation Department, is an outspoken politician, who has championed what he sees as the interests of western Fiji. He has endorsed calls for a return to the former system of customary justice, in force during the colonial

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 era, under which convicted offenders would be returned to their villages not only for punishment but also for counselling and correction, according to the Fiji Times

Fiji Times

The Fiji Times is a daily English-language newspaper published in Suva, Fiji. Established in Levuka on 4 September 1869, it is Fiji's oldest newspaper still operating....

(17 March 2006).

Political career

Lesavua won the Ba East

Ba East (Fijian Communal Constituency, Fiji)

Ba West Fijian Provincial Communal is an electoral division of Fiji, one of 23 communal constituencies reserved for indigenous Fijians....

 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...

 communal constituency

Communal constituencies (Fiji)

Communal constituencies have been the most durable feature of the Fijian electoral system. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or General Electors vote for a candidate of their own respective ethnic groups, in constituencies that have...

 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...

 in the 1999 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,...

, as a candidate of the Party of National Unity (PANU), which he subsequently led in Parliament, having also acted as Sports Minister. Some major political realignments followed the failed 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...

 of May 2000, and 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...

 of 2001, he was defeated by the United Fiji Party (SDL) candidate, Epeli Seavula. He was subsequently appointed to the Senate, however, by Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry

Mahendra Chaudhry

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

, despite his not being member of Chaudhry's Labour Party, and served from 2001 to 2006.

Lesavua changed his political affiliation twice during 2005. On 7 September 2005, Lesavua announced that he had joined the Labour Party and had applied for the party's nomination for either his old seat, or the Northwest Urban Fijian communal constituency, for the election

Fiji election of 2006

The Constitution of Fiji requires general elections for the House of Representatives to be held at least once every five years. The latest election was held on 6-13 May 2006. Acting President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi issued a proclamation on 2 March, effective from 27 March, dissolving Parliament...

 scheduled for mid-2006. Following the merger of PANU with the Protector of Fiji Party to form the People's National Party

People's National Party (Fiji)

The People's National Party is a former Fijian political party.-Party history:The history of the PNP is representative of the many complex about-turns of Fijian politics: it was formed by a merger of the Party of National Unity and the Protector of Fiji , which were both formally deregistered on...

, he had quit the latter party on principle, he said, in the wake of its decision to join the Grand Coalition Initiative Group, a coalition of ethnic Fijian parties.

Citing public demand, Lesavua announced on 25 November 2005 that he had decided to relaunch PANU, and would be filing within one week the necessary documents to reregister the defunct party. There was no immediate word on why he had decided not to follow through with his earlier announced decision to stand for the FLP. He confirmed on 11 January 2006 that PANU had been reregistered.

2006 election

It was announced on 12 March 2006 that Lesavua would contest his old Ba East constituency in the parliamentary election scheduled for 6–13 May. He lost to the United Fiji Party (SDL) candidate, Paulo Ralulu, by a 2-1 margin, however, and said subsequently that his party's alignment with the FLP had cost him support among indigenous Fijians.

In what Lesavua claimed was a breach of promise on the part of FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry, Lesavua was not reappointed to the Senate following the elections.

He subsequently became a member of the Fijian Affairs Review, but left in 2007, claiming he had been told to leave by leader Apakuki Kurusig.