The party was launched on 31 March 2014 with Bainimarama beginning a nationwide tour of the country in a campaign bus to collect the obligatory 5000 signatures necessary to register a political party.[7]
The party collected over 40,000 signatures for its registration.[8]
Bainimarama says FijiFirst is a name that encompasses his political beliefs.[9]
He announced his first candidate as party president
Jiko Luveni.[10]
The party appointed former
Fiji Labour Party senator
Bijai Prasad as one of its Vice Presidents as well as the current Attorney General
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as the party General secretary. Bijai Prasad resigned as VP a day later citing a criminal conviction for larceny in the 1980s for which he had served jail time.[11] The Tui
Macuata, Ratu
Wiliame Katonivere was also selected as a vice president of the party. Vimlesh Kumar who is an accountant and an affiliate member of CPA Australia is listed as the treasurer.[12]
The party's application for registration resulted in six complaints,[13] including one claiming that "Fiji 1st" was previously used by another party.[14] Despite this, the party was registered on 30 May 2014.[15]
2014 election
The party released its first batch of 21 candidates on July 25, 2014[16] with
Frank Bainimarama heading the list. As a result of the 2014
Fijian general elections, the party won 293,714 votes, 59.2% of all those who voted (495,105 voters), giving the party a clear majority with 32 of the 50 Parliamentary seats.[17]
2018 election
The party ran 51 candidates in the
2018 elections, ten of which were women.[18] FijiFirst won the 2018 general elections with a reduced majority from the
2014 elections. FijiFirst accumulated 227,241 of the votes that resulted on the party gaining 50.02% that allocated to 27 seats enough for the party to govern alone within a slim majority.[19][20]
2022 election
Despite remaining the first party in the
2022 election FijiFirst saw its vote share reducing again down to 42.55%, causing the party to lose its majority in the Parliament.[21] With only 3 seats the
SODELPA emerged as kingmaker,[22] and after 6 days of negotiations it decided to support a
PAP-led cabinet, effectively ending FijiFirst's eight-year tenure and Bainimarama's 16-year premiership.[23]
On 18 May 2023 the party was suspended and prohibiting from acting as a political party for 30 days for failing to submit annual accounts.[25][26] The suspension was lifted on 9 June after the party submitted audited accounts.[27]
On 11 December 2023 Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum resigned as general secretary of the FijiFirst party.[28][29]