National Federation Party ready for 2014 Fiji elections

Sydney, May 21 (IANS) Fiji’s National Federation Party (NFP), comprising mostly of Indian-origin members, says it is ready for the elections scheduled for 2014 in that south pacific island nation.

Party president Raman Pratap said that there was no need for a change in the party’s executive line-up and a meeting will be held in June to discuss the party’s election strategy.

“All we have to do now is start with our campaigning,” Pratap was quoted as saying.

“The main reason we are calling our meeting is to discuss our strategy and the next step we will be taking, now that we have resumed operations.”

The NFP was founded in 1968 by Indian-origin politician A.D. Patel through a merger of the Federation Party and National Democratic Party.

The country is currently being run by a military-appointed government after an army coup in 2006.

The 2014 elections are much anticipated, with the country being suspended by the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth of Nations for lack of a democratically-elected government.

“We will be ready when time comes and we will make sure that all our supporters will support us with confidence, come 2014,” Pratap said.

The party meeting is likely to be held June 9 in Lautoka, Fiji’s second largest city located in the island of Viti Levu, according to the report.

Ethnic Indians comprise 37 percent of Fiji’s total population of nearly 870,000.

Most of them are descendants of indentured labourers who were brought in from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the country’s sugarcane plantations.

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