Daniel Urai | |
---|---|
Member of the
Fijian Parliament for Lautoka City Open | |
In office 1 September 2001 – 5 December 2006 | |
Preceded by | Haroon Ali Shah |
Succeeded by | None (Parliament disestablished) |
Personal details | |
Born | Lautoka |
Political party | Fiji Labour Party |
Daniel Urai, also known as Daniel Urai Manufolau, is a Fijian trade unionist and former politician.
Urai was President of the Fiji Trades Union Congress. [1] From 1990 to 2006, he was also involved in the leadership of the Fiji Electricity and Allied Workers Union (FEAWU). [2]
He was elected to the House of Representatives of Fiji in the Lautoka City Open Constituency in the 2001 Fijian general election. [3] As an MP he opposed the Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill. [4] He was re-elected at the 2006 election. [5] He lost his seat when parliament was dissolved following the 2006 Fijian coup d'état. Following the coup he continue as president of the TUC [6] and continued to serve on the board of the Fiji National Provident Fund. [7]
In August 2011 following the military regime's promulgation of a decree which banned strikes, he was arrested for unlawful assembly after holding a union meeting. [8] [9] In October 2011 he was detained by the military regime while returning from a Commonwealth meeting. [10] He was subsequently charged with sedition over a supposed coup plot against dictator Frank Bainimarama. [11] The charges were eventually withdrawn in 2015. [12]
In January 2014 he was arrested for organising a strike at the Sheraton Fiji. [13] The charge were later dropped. [14]
In 2012 following a break with the Fiji Labour party, [15] Urai joined other unionists in forming the People's Democratic Party. [16] He planned to stand as a candidate for the party at the 2014 Fijian general election, [17] and resigned his position as president of the National Union of Hospitality, Catering and Tourism Industries in order to comply with a regime decree banning union leaders from being political candidates. [18] [19] However, his candidacy was disallowed by the military regime. [20]
At the 2018 election he was accepted as a candidate for the Social Democratic Liberal Party, [21] but was not elected to Parliament.
He was selected as a candidate for the People's Alliance at the 2022 election, [22] but his candidacy was again rejected by the Electoral Office. [23]