The stability of the Coalition Government rests with the Social Democratic Liberal Party’s three seats in Parliament.
Award-winning academic and University of Canterbury pro-vice chancellor Professor Steven Ratuva said this while reacting to SODELPA’s request for the Coalition Government to convene an inter-party committee sitting and resolve some of their grievances.
SODELPA vice-president Anare Jale told this newspaper that they were very disappointed that a number of promises made during the coalition agreement before forming Government with The People’s Alliance (PA) and National Federation Party (NFP), had not been honoured.
Among these promises were board memberships for SODELPA members, diplomatic postings for Fiji’s embassies in the United States of America in Washington DC, and the United Kingdom, and a position for Roving Ambassador.
Prof Ratuva said the coalition partners had to make sure they all were happy.
“The SODELPA issues should be taken seriously by the other two members of the coalition,” Mr Ratuva said.
“Holding a coalition together should involve very delicate balancing and sustainable collective strategies to make sure that everyone is happy.
“This will involve a give and take approach including taking the conditions of the agreements seriously.
“This is more so when the parliamentary numerical advantage is rather fragile as is the case now with the Fiji Government, and where SODELPA holds the leverage to balance of power by three seats.”
He said it was important they convene a meeting quickly and address the concerns raised by the SODELPA members.
“This has implications beyond just party politics and has implications for national stability as the country is trying to rebuild.
“With their power of three votes, SODELPA now has a number of options — one of which is to withdraw support for the coalition and align with FijiFirst. “This is something that the PAP and NFP would like to avoid at all costs.
“Fiji hopes that the issues are addressed quickly, thoroughly, sensitively, respectfully, and amicably for the sake of political stability and sustainability in the country.”