General elections were held in Fiji in September 1959, the last in which women and ethnic Fijians were still barred from voting.
For Europeans and Indo-Fijians, three of the five representatives were elected from single-member constituencies, with the other two appointed by the Governor.
All five Fijian members were appointed from a list of ten candidates submitted by the Great Council of Chiefs.
They had to be a British subject or from British India, have lived continuously in the Fiji for at least two years, be able to read or write in English, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Urdu, and for the previous six months, have either owned property with an annual value of five years, had a net annual cash income of at least £75, or held a Government or municipal licence worth at least £5 annually.
[2] A by-election was held in the Indian Eastern constituency in 1961, which was won by James Madhavan.