Fiji: From coup to democracy

By staff and wire reports

Fiji's seven-day long election on Saturday to restore democracy after a racially-inspired coup in May 2000 toppled the South Pacific nation's first ethnic Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry.

Following are the key political events leading up to the elections:

1987 May - Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka leads coup against Indian majority government headed by Fijian Prime Minister Dr Timoci Bavadra.

September 25 - After an agreement is reached on a bipartisan caretaker government, Rabuka engineers a second coup and abrogates constitution. Fiji suspended from the Commonwealth.

October 15 - Fiji declared a republic. December 5 - Executive authority restored under Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara as prime minister of the interim government and Rabuka minister for home affairs.

1990 January - Fiji returns to full civilian rule when Rabuka and other army officers leave government.

1992 June - Rabuka sworn in as prime minister after winning May general elections. His 18-member cabinet contains only one ethnic Indian, who later resigns.

1998 July 27 - New multi-racial constitution takes effect after widespread consultations with indigenous Fijian and ethnic Indian communities.

1999 May 19 - Mahendra Chaudhry sworn in as Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister after a landslide election win over Rabuka. Despite winning enough seats to govern outright, Chaudhry's Fijian Labor Party forms "People's Coalition" government with almost 70 percent of parliamentary seats.

2000 May 19 - Failed businessman George Speight and nationalist rebels storm parliament in Suva, taking Chaudhry and most of his cabinet hostage in the name of indigenous Fijian rights. Speight, who has a mixed race background, declares himself head of state. Indian businesses burned in a wave of arson and looting.

May 21 - Speight frees some hostages but warns he will execute others if army attacks.

May 27 - President Mara suspends parliament for six months. Two soldiers and a journalist are wounded in a confrontation between rebels and the military at a roadblock.

May 28 - A policeman is killed, a security guard dies of a heart attack and a television station is ransacked as coup supporters rampage through Suva streets.

May 29 - Military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama declares martial law.

May 31 - Military says Chaudhry government will not be reinstated.

June 6 - Fiji suspended from the Commonwealth.

June 25 - Rebels release four women hostages.

July 4 - Military wound five rebels in a shootout near parliament only hours after Laisenia Qarase's all-indigenous interim administration is sworn in.

July 9 - Rebels and military sign an accord for release of hostages to coincide with

July 13 meeting of Great Council of Chiefs, Fiji's traditional rulers.

July 13 - Rebels free Chaudhry and remaining hostages after 56 days but do not hand in all weapons as agreed with military.

July 26 - Speight and his closest aides are arrested in a school outside Suva; one rebel later dies as the military cracks down on Speight's group and unrest flares across Fiji.

August 8 - Rebels shoot dead one soldier and a policeman.

August 11 - Speight charged with treason.

Nov 2 - Eight soldiers killed and seven wounded in a bloody but unsuccessful mutiny at the main Queen Elizabeth military barracks in the capital Suva.

Nov 3 - Eleven rebel soldiers arrested after mutiny.

Nov 15 - Fiji's Hight Court rules Qarase's military-backed government illegal, orders return to Chaudhry administration; appeal against ruling lodged almost immediately.

Dec 5 - Military charges 39 rebel soldiers with mutiny.

2001 Feb 19 - Military tightens security as submissions begin at start of Qarase government's appeal against High Court decision.

March 1 - Court of appeal upholds ruling, says interim government illegal and orders return to 1997 multi-racial constitution. Chaudhry says he is still PM, Qarase pledges transition period.

July 11 - Fresh High Court ruling backs president's decision to dissolve parliament after coup on grounds of necessity, clears way for caretaker government to announce August 25 election.

July 11 - Speight and 12 associates committed to stand trial on treason charges, which carry death penalty.

July 26 - Coup leader Speight declares himself as candidate in election, despite being confined to island prison.

August 24 - The treason trial for Speight and 12 co-accused begins in Fiji's High Court in Suva. Trial is adjourned until January 2002.

Reuters contributed to this report.