Fiji Being All Smug About Their Decade Of Stable Government

Fijian citizens are on their high-horse today as polls open for the nation’s first second democratic election since a military coup ousted the Government 12 years ago.

Once the laughing stock of the pacific, Fiji has managed to maintain two stable governments since 2006 – while Australia has rotated between seven different Prime Ministers.

Fiji is now no longer the laughing stock of Oceania, following which saw the military overthrow four governments in the space of two decades, today’s general election sees two former coup leaders vying for the prime ministership in what appears to be a well managed democratic process.

Incumbent Frank Bainimarama leads the FijiFirst party, which is looking to retain power after winning the historic 2014 election.

Mr Bainimarama, a former military commander, staged the country’s most recent coup in 2006 that strained Fiji’s ties with Australia and the world, because it was a bad look because you can’t just overthrow your leader like that.

However, the new, improved and stabilised Fiji is today looking down the Pacific Ocean at their much more erratic and self-doubting Australian neighbours – as they go to vote for one or two men that will almost certainly lead their country for a full term until their next federal election – a luxury that Australia has not experienced since before the iPhone was invented.