a political ploy to retain the support of the Conservative Alliance-Matanitu Vanua (CAMV), on whose six parliamentary votes the government depended for its majority. She also expressed concern that the bill interfered with the judicial system. Leweniqila, however, said that not only was the proposal nothing new, it was in fact one that Rabuka, on behalf of the SVT, had proposed as long ago as 2002. He added, however, that acknowledging the government of deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry as the lawful government of the land would be the right place to start. Coup allegations Towards the end of 2005, the SVT found itself fending off allegations relating to the 2000 coup. In interviews with the Fiji Sun, a daily newspaper, Josaia Waqabaca and Maciu Navakasuasua (who served a three-year prison term for coup-related offences) implicated some senior members of the SVT in the planning of the coup. Druavesi strongly denied that the party had been involved in any way whatsoever, and that if any SVT officials had participated in the plot, they must have done so as individuals, not as representatives of the party. She called on the police to interrogate those identified by Waqabaca and Navakasuasua, however, to determine the truth of the allegations. Towards 2006 election On 26 June 2005, Druavesi made a stinging attack on the ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), accusing it of racism, corruption, and incompetence. Policies enacted supposedly for the benefit of indigenous Fijians had benefited only a few people with family or business ties to government leaders, she said. "Top posts and lucrative contracts were awarded to people who support the party," she alleged. Druavesi said she believed that the Fijian people, disappointed by the SDL-CAMV coalition, would return to the SVT in the 2006 election. Druavesi's attacks notwithstanding, Rabuka pursued negotiations with the SDL, and on 25 November Prime Minister Qarase confirmed that his own party would definitely be working with the SVT in the forthcoming election. He expected that one expression of cooperation between the SDL and the SVT, as members of the Grand Coalition, would be to exchange electoral preferences between themselves before going outside the group. Under Fiji's voting system, votes cast for low-polling candidates may be transferred to higher-polling candidates as agreed prior to the election. Druavesi said on 23 February 2006 that the door was open for former members of the CAMV, which had been