The Social Democratic Liberal Party has congratulated former leader Sitiveni Rabuka.

This comes as Rabuka has submitted his application to register his new political party “People’s Alliance.”

SODELPA General Secretary, Lenaitasi Duru says this means they have a strong competitor if Rabuka’s proposed party is successfully registered.

Duru says at this stage the assumption that the former leader’s voters from the last general election will make a move is what needs to be proved.

He says SODELPA is unsure if these voters have moved or not as this can only be determined at the poll.

Duru says the Party has associated votes collected by other candidates to that of Rabuka to see where the party stands.

Rabuka made the application at the Fijian Elections Office on Thursday to register his proposed political party.