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Fiji timeline of political events

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Following is a timeline of significant political developments in Fiji since it gained independence from Britain in 1970.

May 1987. First bloodless coup. Army officer Lt.-Col. Sitiveni Rabuka overthrows multiracial government led by Fiji Labour Party, under Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra.

September 1987. Rabuka stages second coup against the new administration.

October 1987: Fiji declared a republic, and is immediately expelled from Commonwealth.

1990: New constitution favors indigenous Fijians.

1992: Rabuka becomes prime minister after elections.

Mid-1990s: Many of Fiji's ethnic Indians leave the country.

1997: Constitution revised to espouse racial equality.

1999: Fiji Labour Party wins elections. Ethnic Indian Mahendra Chaudhry becomes prime minister.

May 2000: George Speight leads rebel soldiers, who take members of parliament hostage for 56 days. Speight arrested after military ends coup. Laisenia Qarase becomes interim prime minister.

September 2001: Qarase's Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), also known as the United Fiji Party, wins elections, forms coalition government with Qarase as prime minister.

May 2006: Qarase again wins elections.

October 2006: Army leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama, opposed to legislation proposed by the Qarase administration, threatens to force its resignation if the proposals are not dropped.

Official: Terror suspect's dad brought son to U.S. attention When the father of suspected terrorist Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab visited the U.S. embassy in Nigeria in November, he told officials he believed his son was ...

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