THE People’s Alliance party (PAP) has emerged as the leading political party in a new national opinion survey, securing 27.5 per cent support, while Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka leads the preferred prime minister rankings with 13.6 per cent.
The findings, released by the Centre for Democracy and Dialogue (CDD), are from the first wave of the Fiji National Electoral Opinion Survey conducted between September and October 2026.
Unity Fiji ranked second in party support with 13.6 per cent, narrowly ahead of SODELPA at 13.1 per cent. The National Federation Party (NFP) recorded 12.5 per cent, followed by People First with 10.9 per cent.
The Fiji Labour Party secured 8 per cent, NextGen 6.7 per cent and One Nation 5.7 per cent.
Among preferred prime minister candidates, Unity Fiji leader Savenaca Narube ranked second with 9 per cent, followed by former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama with 6.4 per cent. NFP leader Professor Biman Prasad recorded 5.3 per cent, while Labour leader Mahendra Chaudhry received 4.6 per cent.
An illustrative parliamentary allocation using the D’Hondt system and a 5 per cent threshold gave PAP 16 of the 55 seats, well short of the 28 required for a majority.
CDD cautioned that the projection was mathematical rather than a prediction of the next Parliament.
Prof Prasad said NFP was comfortable with its position, while Chaudhry disputed Labour’s 8 per cent result, claiming its support was growing and would be stronger by election time.
“We also believe that by the time of the election we will have a strong field of candidates before voters who will clearly show the depth of NFP’s appeal,” Prof Prasad said.
Mr Chaudhry said Labour was doing well and its support was surging by the day.
“I am confident that Labour will do much better than what the poll indicates at this stage.
“Our priorities have always been the well-being of our people.”
Unity Fiji leader Savenaca Narube said he was not surprised with the survey result.
“We firmly believe that our rise from no seats in the 2022 election to eight (8) seats in the next election reflect the growing trust and confidence of the voters, especially the youths and women, in our ability to raise jobs and incomes and help families survive in this very difficult time,” Mr Narube said.
The survey recorded 1673 completed interviews.
