The National Alliance Party of Fiji (NAPF) was a Fijian political party. It was formally registered on 18 January 2005 by Ratu Epeli Ganilau, as the claimed successor to the defunct Alliance Party, which ruled Fiji from 1967 to 1987 under the leadership of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Ganilau's father-in-law. Others involved with the party included university lecturer Meli Waqa as party secretary, and Manu Korovulavula as treasurer. The Deputy Leader was Hirdesh Sharma. The party was launched publicly at a mass rally in Suva on 8 April 2005. The party announced its intention to wind up in February 2013. Background Previous attempts to forge a multi-racial political movement, including the electoral pact between the ethnic Fijian Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (better known in Fiji by its Fijian name, Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei) and the predominantly Indo-Fijian National Federation Party, which contested the 1999 election unsuccessfully, had been well-meant but ill-timed, Ganilau said. He declared that the racially based politics which followed the 1987 and 2000 coups, which sought to establish ethnic Fijian supremacy, were now widely understood to have been detrimental to the country, and that the time was now right for a multiracial political party. "The old Alliance Party represented the multi-racial communities of the country, which is what we have in common, Ganilau said. "We found a multi-racial party is the most successful and the most stable in the leadership of the country." Ganilau expressed optimism that the new party would allow him to convey his vision of a multiracial Fiji more effectively than he had been able in his previous role as Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs. "I was quite outspoken about the need to respect the rights all citizens in Fiji during my role as chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs," he said, "but that did not go down well with some. That is why I decided it was best to continue the fight on a political platform." The NAPF absorbed the Fiji Democratic Party, which officially dissolved itself. The former Democrat leader, Filipe Bole, assumed a prominent role as a spokesman for the new party. Other former politicians from the Mara era endorsed the party, including Bill Aull, Fereti Dewa, Joji Uluinakauvadra, and Irene Jai Narayan. Not all contemporary politicians, however, were so positive. In a strongly worded reaction on 12 April 2005, Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase