The Qoliqoli, Land Tribunal, and Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bills dealt with the ongoing ethnic conflicts in Fiji and the aftermath of the 2000 coup, and were considered to be pro-ethnic Fijian.

Bainimarama, the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), presented the government with a list of demands on October 16 that included withdrawing the bills.

After the Great Council of Chiefs refused to appoint a cabinet friendly to the military, Bainimarama reached an understanding with Iloilo and reinstated him as president on 4 January 2007.

Bainimarama stated that he launched the coup in order to "lead us into peace and prosperity and mend the ever widening racial divide that currently besets our multicultural nation".

In the chaos that followed, Chief Justice Timoci Tuivaga and other judges advised RFMF commander Frank Bainimarama to take control on the basis of "necessity".

[15][16] Bainimarama made Josefa Iloilo the interim prime minister until elections were held the following year; these were won by Laisenia Qarase, an ethnic Fijian.

The Methodist Church in Fiji has frequently played a significant role in politics – senior leaders supported the coup of 2000 and the subsequent proposal to pardon those involved.

News service Fiji Village reported that he claimed that government leniency towards perpetrators of the 2000 coup had created a culture of disrespect for the law, to which he attributed the increasing incidents of rape, homicide, and desecration of Hindu temples.

The next day Prime Minister Qarase accused the Commodore's statements of being unconstitutional, and announced his intention to refer the matter to the Supreme Court for a judgement on the proper role of the military.

Reverend Ame Tugaue, the General Secretary of the Church, commented that the Commander appeared to be ignoring the fact that it was the influence of Christianity that had abolished cannibalism in Fiji.

The Fiji Sun quoted Bainimarama on 25 September as saying that his speech at Ratu Latianara Secondary School had been based on the advice of United States General John Brown.

The same afternoon, however, United States Ambassador Larry Dinger told the Fiji Village News that Bainimarama had misunderstood Brown's intentions.

[22][23] The nine demands mainly centered around: the 2000 coup proponents being brought to justice; withdrawing any political machinations which would potentially further economic inequality based on racial grounds; denying intervention by foreign authority (mentioning by name Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, an Australian national); dropping the court proceedings regarding the military's statements from earlier in the year and formally addressing concerns about government spending and internal governance.

[35][36] The armed forces held public demonstrations around the capital and blocked the road from Naitasiri province, where Prime Minister Qarase was attending a provincial council meeting.

[37][38] On the morning of the 5th, armed troops began to surround the offices of government ministers and place them under house arrest, confiscating their phones and vehicles.

[43] After meeting with Commodore Bainimarama in the morning, Iloilo was reported to have signed a legal order dissolving Parliament, citing the doctrine of necessity, and paving the way for the formation of an interim administration.

[44] He later denied having signed such an order and condemned the military takeover, and exiled Police Commissioner Hughes accused Rupeni Nacewa, the President's secretary, of having fabricated the decree.

This included Vice-President Joni Madraiwiwi, Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes and his acting replacement Moses Driver, Assistant Police Commissioner Kevueli Bulamainaivalu, chairman Stuart Huggett and chief executive Anare Jale of the Public Service Commission, Solicitor General Nainendra Nand, chief executive of the Prime Minister's Office Jioji Kotobalavu, and Supervisor of Elections Semesa Karavaki.

Bainimarama also dismissed Adi Litia Qionibaravi[clarification needed] as head of the Fijian Affairs Board that convenes meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs.

[69] Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry was more inclined to reserve judgement,[70][71] while deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase condemned the appointment, saying it amounted to establishing a military dictatorship.

Fiji Law Society president Devanesh Sharma described the appointment as unconstitutional, while Winston Peters, New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, also condemned it as a "charade" that would fool nobody.

Dr. David Neilson, a member of the Commission of Inquiry, wrote: The registration process was both inadequate and biased and submissions strongly indicate campaigning involved deliberate and explicit vote-buying near polling day by the SDL party in league with the broader state.

According to Arms, Neilson and his colleagues reached the verdict that the 2006 result had been 'rigged' mainly on the basis of evidence gleaned at public hearings, without any independent effort to verify the accuracy of the allegations.

Over the following days of election week, I tested this claim by requesting presiding officers in the polling stations to show me their logbook records of voters who had been able to cast only one vote because their name could not be found in a corresponding open or communal constituency.

[83] Bainimarama's stated justification for the coup was to "lead us into peace and prosperity and mend the ever widening racial divide that currently besets our multicultural nation".

[...] The RFMF over the years have been raising security concerns with the Government, in particular the introduction of controversial bills, and policies that have divided the nation now and will have very serious consequences to our future generations.

[92] In early December, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that the military were "slowly trying to take control" and pressure the PM to resign.

[citation needed] Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan made a public statement and personally spoken to President Iloilo and Prime Minister Qarase.

[105][106] The Bainimarama government's lawyers argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to question President Iloilo's decision to appoint the Interim Cabinet.

[107] On 9 October 2008, the High Court found that President Ratu Josefa Iloilo had acted lawfully when he had appointed Bainimarama as prime minister.