Four senior members of the Social Democratic Liberal Party are expected to give Sitiveni Rabuka a tough challenge for the party leadership position.

This comes as SODELPA has finalized the candidates for the top job and endorsed a process to begin working towards appointing a leader for the 2022 general election.

Of the five contenders, Viliame Gavoka tops the list and with his second term in Parliament, the Nadroga native is confident in the process endorsed by the party to select their next leader.

“The welcoming thing about this process is that it can determine for us the depth within the Party. And there are about five of us who are running for the leadership. That’s on the leadership side and then you have the deputy leaders. It’s quite illuminating and I always knew that the party has strength and depth. But through this process the people of Fiji will realize that SODELPA has a lot of people in there who are capable of leadership.”

Aseri Radrodro, the youngest of the five candidates, says he has the backing of his province of Naitasiri.

“It’s a democratic process for Party Leadership Position so that’s what motivated me to apply. If I am given the opportunity to lead the party, hopefully we will be able to garner the support of the party members and party officials and hopefully taking us towards winning the 2022 elections.”

The other candidates for the party leader position include Sitiveni Rabuka, Ro Filipe Tuisawau and Pio Tabaiwalu.

The successful candidate will be made known during SODELPA’s Annual General Meeting on November 28th.