The results showed considerable variation from one municipality to another, indicating that local rather than national issues played a prominent role in the election.
The NFP, which suffered disastrous defeats in the national elections of 1999 and 2001, failing to win a single seat in the House of Representatives, remained strong at the municipal level, while the SDL and the FLP, despite their fierce and sometimes bitter rivalry in national politics, forged an alliance after the election to control the Suva City Council.
The NFP-dominated Ratepayers Alliance made a clean sweep, winning all 15 seats on the Ba Town Council.
The election for control of the Savusavu Town Council was fought entirely between locally-organised groups with no ties to national political parties.
In all municipalities, there were reports of voters finding that their names had not been registered on the final roll, despite appearing on the provisional one; the FLP claimed that a number of these were known supporters of the party.