In 2003, the party announced a drive to broaden its base to attract support from Fiji's major ethnic communities, indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians.
Calling the proposal a recipe for disaster which would create a "legal framework" to pardon, at will, anyone convicted of coup-related offence, party leader Mick Beddoes said on 16 May 2005 that it would lead to the prevalence of the law of the jungle and would license any would-be political activist who wanted to engage in coups, to do so.
He accused the government of pandering to its junior coalition partner, the Conservative Alliance, to which many of those convicted of coup-related offenses belong.
On 14 June, the party announced the beginning of a Yellow Ribbon Campaign to promote a petition aimed at forcing the bill to be withdrawn, or at least significantly amended.
The UPP announced on 28 June 2005 that Josephine Raikuna Williams, the former Mayor of Nadi, would be a candidate for the party at the general election expected to be held in 2006.
The 2006 conference, held on 18–19 March, chose Loto Feifei (North Eastern), David Blakelock (Suva City), and Margaret Rounds (West Central) as the party's three vice-presidents.
However, Deputy Leader Bernadette Ganilau accepted a position in the 2007 interim government, and was asked to resign from the party in response.
[2][3] It urged its members to join one of the three remaining major political parties in an effort to shift them towards a more multiracial membership.