Timoci Bavadra

Who was Timoci Bavadra?

Timoci Uluivuda Bavadra was a medical doctor who served for one month as the second Prime Minister of Fiji in 1987 and who founded the Fiji Labour Party.

Contesting his first election in 1987, Bavadra forged an electoral coalition between his Labour Party and the much older, Indo-Fijian-dominated National Federation Party. Although much larger, the NFP agreed to play a junior role in the coalition, aware that much of the ethnic Fijian community was not ready to accept an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister; even a government with a significant Indo-Fijian presence was itself bound to stretch the patience of ethnic Fijians.

The election was a stunning upset. The Labour-NFP coalition captured 28 seats, four more than the Alliance Party, thereby ending the twenty-year reign of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who, first as Chief Minister and subsequently as Prime Minister, had led Fiji since its pre-independence years. Although an ethnic Fijian, Bavadra had been elected mostly with the support of Indo-Fijians.