In 1979, the newly-elected city councillors of Suva struck a bargain regarding the mayor’s position, thus sidestepping their initial challenge of managing a council where the Alliance and National Federation Party held equal power.
According to an article published by The Fiji Times on November 1 that year, the deal was that NFP lawyer Cr Gyaneshwar Lala was going to be mayor for 12 months at the council’s office.
The two sides agreed to this at a meeting held in the council chamber, and the mayoral election went through almost without a hitch.
Cr Mohammed Sahu Khan, an Alliance member of the council which was in Government in 1977, warned before the unconsented elections that he did not think the special meeting had been called at the full three days’ notice required by law.
Mr Khan said he would check its legality with the Crown Law Office. The town clerk, Reg Ollard, said he had taken legal advice and had been told that the meeting would be in order.
The election, the only business of the meeting, was watched by one of the biggest crowds ever to pack the council chamber. Spectators included several members of parliament, former mayors, and former councillors.
And soon after the 40-minute meeting ended, new councillors and many of the spectators were celebrating the election with coffee and biscuits — and beer, whisky, gin, and rum — turned on by the election.
After his election, the mayor told the council that the meeting was “historic”. It was the first time Suva had been given an NFP mayor “with the cooperation and understanding of Alliance councillors”.
“We will all forget that we belong to different parties and will only remember that for all purposes this Cabinet consists of 20 people, with only one responsibility, and that is the administration of this city,” he said.
The Deputy Mayor, Cr Smith, said the split council meant that only cooperation would let it function.
The Alliance had “compromised as well as we can and we are sure will succeed,” Mr Smith said.
Cr Lala told reporters afterwards the council was a “coalition” and added, “I am confident this will last for more than three years.”
When asked whether the NFP felt bound by its promise to freeze rates for three years, he said “We will certainly try to keep our promise.”
But it could be decided only after looking at the 1980 budget plans drafted by the former city administrator, Bill Cruickshank, who recommended a seven-and-a-half per cent increase in rates.