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Early general elections were held in Fiji between 17 and 24 September 1977, following the impasse of an earlier election that had been held in March. The National Federation Party, the narrow winner of the election, had failed to form a government, owing to internal disputes, and the Governor-General, Ratu Sir George Cakobau, had called on the defeated Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, to form an interim government, pending fresh elections.
The new elections held in September resulted in a landslide win for Ratu Mara's Alliance Party (Fiji), which won an unprecedented 36 seats out of 52. It was aided by the decline in support for the Fijian Nationalist Party of Sakeaki Butadroka; the xenophobic party which advocated "repatriating" Fijians of Indian descent to India had attracted 25 percent of the ethnic Fijian vote in March, splitting the ethnic Fijian vote and making it possible for the Indian-dominated National Federation Party to win. More than half of those who had voted for the Fijian Nationalist Party in March, mainly to lodge a protest vote against Ratu Mara's inclusive racial policies, returned to the Alliance in September. The Alliance was also helped by the continuing disarray in the ranks of the National Federation Party.