The Justice and Freedom Party (JFP) was a minor

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

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 ...

. It was formed in 2000 to promote the interests of the

Indo-Fijian 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 ...

community, and unsuccessfully contested the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

elections. It was dissolved in 2013. In the 2001 election the party gained less than 0.1 percent of the popular vote and won no constituencies. With some 76 percent of Indo-Fijians voting for the

Fiji Labour Party The Fiji Labour Party (FLP; ),() also known as Fiji Labour, is a political party in Fiji. Most of its support is from the Indo-Fijian community, although it is officially multiracial and its first leader was an indigenous Fijian, Dr. Timoc ...

and 22 percent for the

National Federation Party The National Federation Party ( Fiji Hindi: नेशनल फेडरेशन पार्टी; Fijian: ''Mataisoqosoqo ni National Federation'') is a Fijian political party founded by A. D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Fe ...

, the JFP was squeezed out. In the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...

, the party intended to run candidates in all 19

communal constituencies Until the abolishment of communal constituencies in the Fijian electoral system in 2014, there was very little cross-ethnic voting in Fiji. In communal constituencies, electors enrolled as ethnic Fijians, Indo-Fijians, Rotuman Islanders, or G ...

allocated to Indo-Fijians, and on 3 April published a

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

promising to petition the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

to press the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to accept responsibility for bringing

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

ns to Fiji during the colonial era. It also promised a F$10 million scholarship for Indo-Fijian students. The party would also push for

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

to be allowed for Indo-Fijians living in Australia and the United Kingdom, and for British passports to be restored to Indo-Fijians living in Fiji, JFP General Secretary Dildar Shah said. On 7 April, however, it was announced that the JFP had decided to merge with the multiracial

National Alliance Party of Fiji The National Alliance Party of Fiji (NAPF) was a Fijian political party. It was formally registered on 18 January 2005 by Ratu Epeli Ganilau, as the claimed successor to the defunct Alliance Party, which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987 under th ...

under the leadership of

Ratu ''Ratu'' () is an Austronesian title used by male Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, ''adi'' (pronounced ), is used by females of chiefly rank. In the Malay language, the title ''ratu'' is also the traditional honorific title to r ...

Epeli Ganilau Brigadier-General ''Ratu'' Epeli Ganilau, MC, MSD, (10 October 1951 – 23 March 2023) was a Fijian military officer and politician. His career previously encompassed such roles as Commander of the Fiji Military Forces and Chairman of the '' ...

. Some JFP members, including Shah, would contest the forthcoming election on 6–13 May for the Alliance, Ganilau said. However, it did subsequently contest the election, gaining only 18 votes. In 2006 the Fijian government was overthrown and the Fijian parliament dissolved in a coup. In January 2013 the military regime promulgated new regulations governing the registration of political parties, requiring all parties to have at least 5,000 members. The JFP welcomed the new regulations but was unable to gain the required number of members. it was therefore wound up and its assets forfeited to the state.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Justice And Freedom Party (Fiji) Justice and Freedom Party Fiji Indian organisations Political parties of minorities Political parties established in 2000 Political parties disestablished in 2013