2005 Municipal Poll
On 7 July 2005, the Labour Party suspended all of its councillors on the Lautoka City Council, following a scandal in which councillors were found to have granted taxi bases to relatives and colleagues. Those suspended were the Deputy Mayor, Vijend Verma, Torika Ram, Aruna Devi, Atish Lekh Ram, Sunia Kunawave, Pravin Naidu, Hari Narayan, Divendra Chandra and Dhurup Chand. The last four submitted in their resignations from the Labour Party, saying they wanted nothing more to do with it. Naidu said he was resigning from the party in protest against the suspensions, which he said were a public relations ploy. The Labour Party was thought to be facing a stiff challenge to its control of the council in the municipal elections of 22 October and 13 November, from the new Sugar City Ratepayers Alliance, but in the end swept to a landslide victory, taking 12 of the 16 seats. The party also won a two-thirds majority in the Nasinu Town Council, but was heavily defeated in the poll for the Suva City Council.
Read more about this topic: Fiji Labour Party
Famous quotes containing the words municipal and/or poll:
“No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.”
—Alfred E. Smith (1873–1944)
“If Rosa Parks had taken a poll before she sat down in that bus in Montgomery, she’d still be standing.”
—Mary Frances Berry (b. 1938)