Viliame Cavubati (born 1945 on Lakeba Island, Lau) is a former

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 ...

an politician and

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. He was a member of the

Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei The Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT), occasionally known in English as Fijian Political Party, was a party which dominated the politics of Fiji in the 1990s and was the mainstay of coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people ...

. His first foray into politics was in 1968, when he began working for the then-ruling Alliance Party. He was Minister for Works in the government of

Sitiveni Rabuka Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka (; born 13 September 1948) is a Fijian politician, sportsman, and former soldier who has been serving as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was de ...

in the 1990s, but lost the Lau Fijian Communal Constituency to

Adi Adi or ADI may refer to: Abbreviations * Acceptable daily intake, in health and medicine * Acting detective inspector, a type of police inspector * Africa Development Indicators, a compilation of data assembled by the World Bank * Alternating ...

Koila Nailatikau Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau is a Fijian lawyer, who has served as a diplomat and politician. She was also First Lady of Fiji from 2009 until 2015, as the wife of Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, the President of Fiji. Family background Arieta Koila J ...

in the 1999 parliamentary election. In February 2006, the National Alliance Party announced that Cavubati would challenge

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Laisenia Qarase Laisenia Qarase (pronounced ; 4 February 1941 – 21 April 2020) was a Fijian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Fiji, sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After Republic of Fiji Military Forces, the military quashed the 2 ...

, who held Cavubati's old seat, in the

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 ...

held from 6 to 13 May. Cavubati was trounced, gaining less than 7 percent of the vote. A former schoolteacher, Cavubati was educated at

Queen Victoria School Queen Victoria School (QVS) is a non-selective, co-educational, boarding school predominantly for children of Scottish servicemen and women aged 10/11 to 18. It occupies a Scottish Baronial-style building on a rural campus just outside Dunblane ...

, and worked first as a field officer and subsequently as traffic officer and wharf manager of Ellington, for the Fiji Sugar Corporation. He w

References

I-Taukei Fijian members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) 1945 births Living people Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei politicians Government ministers of Fiji Alliance Party (Fiji) politicians National Alliance Party of Fiji politicians Politicians from Lakeba {{Fiji-politician-stub