Ema Druavesi

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Ema Druavesi is a Fijian political organizer, who currently serves as General Secretary of the Fijian Political Party, officially known by its Fijian name, Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei, or SVT.

As General Secretary, she has attempted to revive the fortunes of the SVT, which ruled Fiji for most of the 1990s, but was decimated in the parliamentary election of 1999, and routed completely in the subsequent election held in 2001.

An outspoken character, she has sometimes differed publicly with the President of the party, former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. In particular, she has strongly opposed the Qarase government's controversial Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, while Rabuka has expressed support for its general principles. The bill proposes to establish a Commission empowered to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the coup d'état which deposed the elected government of Mahendra Chaudhry in May 2000. Druavesi considers the bill to be a legal mechanism to release supporters of the present government, who have been convicted of coup-related offences.