Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei

The Fijian Political Party (better known by its initials SVT, which stand for its Fijan name, Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei]]) is party which dominated politics in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition governments from 1992 to 1999, but which is currently without representation in the House of Representatives.

The party was founded in 1990 by Ro Lady Lala Mara, as the successor to the disbanded Fijian Alliance which her husband, longtime Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, had led. A new constitution promulgated in 1990, following two military coups in 1987, abolished the parliamentary seats elected by universal suffrage (which had comprised half the House of Representatives); all members henceforth were to be elected by enrolled voters on "communal" electoral roles that were limited to specific ethnic communities, each of which had an allocated number of seats in the House (37 indigenous Fijians, 27 Indo-Fijians, 1 Rotuman, and 5 General Electors (Europeans, Chinese, Banaban Islanders, and other minorities). The end to multiracial voting resulted in a trend towards intracommunal politics, and multiracial parties like the Fijian Alliance were therefore dissolved and replaced by parties representing principally a single ethnic group.

Ratu Mara had announced his intention not to contest the election that was to be held in 1992, but his wife, Adi Lala, a Ratu in her own right as the Paramount Chief of Burebasaga (one of three confederacies to which all Fijian chiefs belong in the House of Chiefs) seemed a natural choice to lead a new party as the successor to his. As a matter of course, the Great Council of Chiefs endorsed the party, as did the powerful Methodist Church.

Major General Sitiveni Rabuka, who had led the 1987 coups, decided to join the new party also, along with his supporters, and he soon out-maneuvered Adi Lala for the leadership. Her family subsequently distanced themselves from the party. The SVT won the general election of 1992, but the subsequent defection of six parliamentarians left it without a workable majority. Internal strife weakened the party, and many influential members of the Great Council of Chiefs grew disillusioned with it, as did the Methodist Church. Despite this, it won a plurality in the parliamentary election that was called three years early, in 1994. Allegations of corruption eroded the popularity of the SVT-led government, which was heavily defeated in the general election of 1999, taking just 8 of the 71 seats in the House of Representatives. Rabuka quit as leader of the party, and was followed by several short-lived leaders.

Following the coup d'état of 2000, former Foreign Minister Filipe Bole assumed leadership of the party. It contested the election held to restore democracy in 2001 on a platform of supporting the 1997 constitution with amendments, free public transport for school children, an increase in government spending to alleviate poverty, and promotion of community initiatives to end domestic violence. It also called for a return to of First past the post voting. These policies failed to stem the tide, and the SVT's share of the vote sank to just 5.5 percent, and it failed to win any seats. Bole later quit the party, and Rabuka also distanced himself from it. He announced in April 2005 that he would not be returning to lead the party in the election expected to be held in 2006.