allocated seats from the Ra constituency during the 1992 Fijian general election. The SVT then traditionally approached the four main traditional chiefs from Ra and endorsed Dr Ratu Wilisoni Tuiketei Malani, the Turaga Gonesau from Nakorotubu, to be the party's sole candidate in the Ra Province constituency during the Fiji election of 1994. At the age of 74, Dr Ratu Malani became the oldest member to be elected to the House of Representatives of Fiji in the 1994 election, with Ratu Mesake Nacola, as an independent candidate, winning the second seat. Allegations of corruption eroded the popularity of the SVT-led government, which was heavily defeated in the 1999 Fijian general election by the People's Coalition, with the SVT taking just 8 of the 71 seats in the House of Representatives. Rabuka quit as leader of the party, and was followed by several short-lived leaders. In opposition Following the 2000 Fijian coup d'état, Taufa Vakatale resigned as president of the SVT and former Foreign Minister Filipe Bole assumed leadership of the party. It contested the election held to restore democracy in 2001 on a platform of supporting the 1997 constitution with amendments, free public transport for school children, an increase in government spending to alleviate poverty, and promotion of community initiatives to end domestic violence. It also called for a return to first past the post voting. These policies failed to stem the tide; the SVT's share of the vote sank to just 5.5 percent and it failed to win any seats. Much of the support it had previously enjoyed went to the new Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua of Laisenia Qarase. Post-2001 developments In June 2002, many members of the party merged with a number of other parties to form the Fiji Democratic Party, under Bole's leadership. This party dissolved itself in April 2005 to join the new National Alliance Party of Fiji, under the leadership of Ratu Epeli Ganilau. A rump of the SVT resisted the merger and continued to exist under the presidency of Rabuka. In May 2005, divisions appeared in the leadership of the party over the government's controversial proposal to establish a Reconciliation and Unity Commission with the power to recommend amnesty to perpetrators of the 2000 coup and compensation to its victims. Rabuka endorsed the proposal, as did executive member Militoni Leweniqila, but Ema Druavesi, General Secretary of the SVT, spoke out against it, calling it