General elections were held in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

in August 1950. Voting took place in most locations on 26 August, and in the Lau and

Lomaiviti Islands The Lomaiviti (pronounced ) archipelago of Fiji consists of seven main islands and a number of smaller ones. They cover a total area of , and had a population of 15,657 at the most recent census in 2017. The largest town, with a population of 1, ...

between 21 and 28 August.

Electoral system

The

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

consisted of 32 members, including 16 'official' members who were civil servants, fifteen 'unofficial' members (five Europeans, five Fijians and five

Indo-Fijians Indo-Fijians () are Fijians of South Asian descent whose ancestors were Girmitiyas, indentured labourers. Indo-Fijians trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent. Although Indo-Fijians constituted a majority of Fiji's ...

), and the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

sitting as President of the Council. For Europeans and Indo-Fijians, three of the five representatives were elected from single-member constituencies, with the other two appointed by the Governor. All five Fijian members were appointed from a list of candidates submitted by the

Great Council of Chiefs The Great Council of Chiefs () is a Fijian constitutional body. It previously existed from 1876 to March 2012 and was restored in May 2023. It is different from the House of Chiefs, a larger body that includes all hereditary chiefs, although m ...

;1940 Legislative Council Election
Fiji Elections Archive usually ten names were submitted, but as there was a tie for tenth place in the vote carried out by the Council of Chiefs in July, a list of eleven was put forward. Voting for Europeans remained restricted to men aged 21 or over who had been born to European parents (or a European father and was able to read, speak and write English), who were British subjects and had been continuously resident in Fiji for 12 months, and who either owned at least £20 of freehold or leasehold property or had an annual income of at least £120. For Indo-Fijians, eligibility was also restricted to men aged 21 or over. They had to be a British subject or from British India, have lived continuously in the Fiji for at least two years, be able to read or write in English, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Urdu, and for the previous six months, have either owned property with an annual value of five years, had a net annual cash income of at least £75, or held a Government or municipal licence worth at least £5 annually.

Results

In the Eastern European constituency, Harold Brockett Gibson defeated the incumbent Fred Archibald by eleven votes, whilst in the Eastern Indian constituency

James Madhavan James Madhavan (died 20 December 1973) was an Indo-Fijian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives for most of the period between 1947 and 1973 and had two spells in the Executive Council. Biography Ma ...

beat J. B. Tularam by a margin of 368 votes.

Nominated members

Aftermath

Edward Cakobau resigned from the Council in 1952 and was replaced by

Tiale Vuiyasawa '' Ratu'' Tiale Wimbledon Thomas Vuiyasawa (died March 1981) was a Fijian chief, civil servant and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Council and Senate. Biography Vuiyasawa was born into a chiefly family, the second son of Jo ...

.Ratu Tiale Vuiyasawa
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', February 1952, p57

References

{{Fijian elections

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Elections in Fiji Fijian general election Fijian general election Election and referendum articles with incomplete results