Fiji’s next general election has not been called, but the National Federation Party’s parliamentary line-up is already loosening. Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said three senior NFP MPs — all of them serving ministers or assistant ministers — have yet to confirm whether they will stand again, and that one of them is unlikely to. He was speaking in Suva on 26 September, after the NFP National Convention, according to FBC News.
Only Sashi Kiran, Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, has signalled that she intends to seek re-election, the broadcaster reported. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Lenora Qereqeretabua is unlikely to contest after indicating she wants to step away from politics, Prasad said, while Minister for Defence Pio Tikoduadua has not reached a final decision.
Key facts
- Five seats out of 55 — the NFP’s result at the December 2022 general election.
- Just under 9 percent of the national vote delivered those five seats.
- A 29-seat coalition, a majority of three — NFP’s five plus the People’s Alliance’s 21 and SODELPA’s three, against FijiFirst’s 26.
- A 5 percent national threshold — Fiji votes as one constituency on an open list, and a party below 5 percent wins nothing.
- Three MPs in question — one running (Kiran), one unlikely to (Qereqeretabua), one undecided (Tikoduadua), on Prasad’s account as reported by FBC News.
Why a five-MP bloc matters
The arithmetic explains why the plans of three backbench-sized names carry national weight. The NFP’s five seats were the difference between a coalition and a hung Parliament: added to the People’s Alliance’s 21 and SODELPA’s three, they produced a 29-seat government in a 55-seat chamber — a majority of three. The coalition led by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka could not have been assembled without the NFP, and Prasad himself sits inside it as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, the post from which he delivers the national budget.
That makes the three undecided MPs disproportionately important to the government’s bench strength. Between them they hold the defence portfolio, an assistant ministry covering foreign affairs, and the women, children and social protection portfolio, as FBC News describes their current roles. A Qereqeretabua exit would remove one of the NFP’s best-known public faces from the ballot. A Tikoduadua exit would take the defence minister out of the line-up at a time when the portfolio has been unusually prominent. Kiran’s stated intention to run again is, on the current reporting, the party’s only confirmed continuity among the three.
There is a second, less obvious cost, and it is structural. Because Fiji votes as a single national constituency under an open-list proportional system, a party’s seat total is built from the personal votes its individual candidates attract, all pooled to the party — and a party that finishes below 5 percent wins no seats at all. The NFP grew from three seats in 2018 to five in 2022 on just under 9 percent. For a party operating with roughly four points of headroom above the cut-off, losing recognisable vote-getters is a threshold question, not only a question of who fills a ministerial chair.
Where each MP stands
Lenora Qereqeretabua
Of the three, Qereqeretabua is the only one whose departure FBC News describes as probable: Prasad said she is unlikely to contest after indicating she wants to step away from politics. The report does not say when she signalled that, whether she has told the party formally, or whether she intends to serve out the current term. It records no change to her present role.
She is not a marginal figure. The public parliamentary record shows Qereqeretabua, a former broadcaster, first entered Parliament for the NFP in 2018 and served as Deputy Speaker in the earlier part of this term before taking up the foreign affairs assistant ministry. On the open-list arithmetic above, a name with that profile is one the party would have to replace with a candidate capable of drawing comparable personal support — and Prasad named no such replacement.
Sashi Kiran
Kiran is the one clear case in the other direction. FBC News reported that the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection has indicated she will seek re-election. The report offers no further detail — no timing, no statement in her own words, and nothing on where she would sit on the party’s list. A first-term MP elected in 2022, she came into Parliament from the non-government sector, and on the current reporting she is the only one of the three whose name the NFP can plan around.
Pio Tikoduadua
Tikoduadua remains the open question, and the report sets no deadline for his decision. Prasad said only that the Minister for Defence has not made a final call on whether he will contest.
He has been one of the more visible ministers of this term. Fiji News reported earlier that Tikoduadua, a former army officer, argued that the military should back police against organised crime, and that he opened the Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting, a regional gathering hosted in Fiji. That record matters here only for one reason: it is the profile the NFP would be asked to replace, and the workload a successor would inherit. Neither of those earlier reports touched on his electoral plans, and he has not publicly linked his defence agenda to a decision about standing again.
The candidate line-up and the timetable
FBC News reported that the uncertainty comes as the NFP works on its candidate line-up for the next general election, with Prasad saying the party is focused on renewal while preparing a strong team to contest. More candidates are expected to be announced in the coming months as preparations continue, the broadcaster said.
The report does not state how many candidates the NFP intends to field, what seat target it has set, or whether it will run on a joint platform with the People’s Alliance and SODELPA. Nor does it give an election date. Under the 2013 Constitution a Parliament runs for four years from its first sitting; the current Parliament first met in December 2022, which places the next election in the 2026–early 2027 window once writs are issued. That is the deadline pressing on the party now: slates have to be settled before a polling day is even named.
How Prasad framed it
Prasad used his remarks to praise all three MPs rather than to signal a dispute. “In my view, they were three very competent, valued Members of Parliament, ministers and assistant ministers,” he said, as quoted by FBC News. He said the party respects the decisions of its members, and accepts that political careers can change as individuals move on to other priorities. NFP representatives, he added, have made significant contributions in Parliament and in government.
He announced no departures, named no replacement candidates, and set out no process for filling the gaps on the list. On the report’s account, this was a leader describing where his colleagues have got to in their own thinking, not a reshuffle.
What we could not confirm
This account rests on a single source: FBC News’s report of Prasad’s remarks after the convention, and none of the three MPs is quoted in it. Fiji News has not independently confirmed their intentions with Qereqeretabua, Kiran or Tikoduadua, or with the NFP secretariat, and no other outlet’s reporting on the convention was available at the time of writing. The seat totals, vote share and constitutional timetable set out above come from the public record of the 2022 election and the 2013 Constitution, not from Prasad; FBC News did not report those figures. This article will be updated if any of the MPs, or the party, comments.
What to watch next
- Tikoduadua’s own answer — a statement resolving whether the defence minister contests, the single decision that would settle two-thirds of this story.
- The NFP’s first formal candidate announcements, which FBC News says are expected in the coming months and will show whether the party can replace its known names.
- Any portfolio backfill among the ministries held by MPs who do not stand.
- The rules of the contest itself — Fiji News has reported on a review that urged a new Parliament and an end to coup immunity, a debate running to the same deadline as candidate selection. Prasad, in the FBC report, addressed only his party’s preparations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many seats does the NFP hold, and does the coalition government depend on them?
Official results from the December 2022 general election gave the NFP five of the 55 seats in Fiji’s Parliament, on just under 9 percent of the national vote. Those five seats were added to the People’s Alliance’s 21 and SODELPA’s three to form a 29-seat governing coalition — a working majority of three over FijiFirst’s 26. On that arithmetic the government could not have been formed without the NFP bloc, which is why the party’s candidate decisions carry weight beyond its size.
When is Fiji’s next general election due?
No date has been announced, and the FBC News report on Prasad’s remarks does not give one. Under the 2013 Constitution a Parliament sits for four years from its first sitting, and the current Parliament first met in December 2022, so the next election falls due within the 2026–early 2027 window once writs are issued. The precise polling day is set by the President under the constitutional process rather than by the parties, which is why parties are assembling slates before any date exists.
Does a decision not to contest mean an MP must give up their ministry now?
Nothing in the FBC News report indicates any resignation. The broadcaster still describes Lenora Qereqeretabua as Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sashi Kiran as Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, and Pio Tikoduadua as Minister for Defence. Under Fiji’s parliamentary system a decision not to stand again at a future election does not by itself require an MP to leave a portfolio before Parliament is dissolved, so all three can serve out the term.
Who is Lenora Qereqeretabua?
According to the public parliamentary record, Qereqeretabua is a former broadcaster who first entered Parliament for the NFP in 2018 and served as Deputy Speaker in the earlier part of the current term before taking up the assistant ministry for foreign affairs. That profile is why her possible exit matters under an open-list system that pools candidates’ personal votes. She has not commented publicly on her plans; the account of her intentions comes from Prasad.
How does Fiji’s electoral system affect which candidates the NFP fields?
Fiji votes as a single national constituency under an open-list proportional system with a 5 percent threshold, so a party’s total vote is pooled from the personal votes of every candidate on its list and parties below 5 percent win no seats at all. The NFP cleared that bar with just under 9 percent in 2022, up from three seats in 2018. With that margin, losing a high-profile personal vote-getter is a threshold risk as well as a candidate-selection question.
Has the NFP said how many candidates it will field?
Not yet. FBC News reports that the party is working on its line-up, that Prasad says it is focused on renewal while preparing a strong team, and that more candidates are expected to be announced in the coming months. The report gives no target number of candidates, no seat objective and no indication of whether the NFP will campaign on a joint platform with its coalition partners.
