Final results yesterday showed Fiji’s tumultuous general election deadlocked, with two rival ex-coup leaders failing to win a clear majority of seats in parliament.
Incumbent Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s Fiji First party and a coalition led by Sitiveni Rabuka were both projected to secure 26 seats in the 55-seat legislature, according to a Fijian Election Office tally posted online.
The prime minister and the next government are likely to be determined through party horsetrading and what could be a drawn-out negotiation process.
Photo: AFP
The election holds significance beyond Fiji. Bainimarama, 68, has been close with Beijing, while Rabuka, 74, has signaled his desire to loosen Fiji’s ties to China.
Fiji has been upended by four coups in the past 35 years, and many people on the streets of its capital, Suva, had hoped for a smooth election.
The cliffhanger result caps a fractious campaign marked by allegations of fraud and calls for the military to intervene.
After polls closed on Wednesday, opposition leader and former international rugby player Rabuka said that there were “anomalies” in the count, and asked the country’s powerful military to step in.
Rabuka was then detained for questioning by police. Upon release, he said the action was part of a government effort to intimidate him.
“The way this government has operated, we’ve been talking about a climate of fear. This is how they instil that fear,” he said.
The two frontrunners are courting the small Social Democratic party, which holds three seats and the balance of power.
It is led by Christian businessman Viliame Gavoka, who was arrested in 2010 for sending tourism operators e-mails about a Fijian pastor prophesying an impending tsunami that never occurred.
Land rights for indigenous Fijians and free tertiary education are some of the Social Democratic party’s key policies.
A Social Democratic official said the party was locked in discussions with Bainimarama’s Fiji First party when reporters visited the campaign headquarters yesterday morning.
Rabuka’s People’s Alliance kicked off negotiations late Saturday night, with a major sticking point being whether Rabuka would serve as prime minister.
Gavoka has fallen out with Bainimarama in the past, but has a particularly tense relationship with Rabuka, whom he replaced as leader of the Social Democrats.
Fiji’s polls ran into trouble early on Thursday morning when what election officials called a technical anomaly knocked results offline for four hours.
By Friday, six opposition leaders, including Gavoka, were calling for counting to be stopped pending an independent “forensic audit.”
Rabuka, a two-time coup leader and former Commonwealth Games shot putter nicknamed “Rambo,” was then called in for police questioning on Friday night.
Military commander Jone Kalouniwai rebuffed Rabuka’s plea.
Fijian Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem hit back at claims of fraud.
“This is serious... Step up with the evidence,” he said.
Ex-navy commodore Bainimarama legitimized his government through election wins in 2014 and 2018, but his majority has shrunk each time.
With about 43 percent of the vote this time, his tally has again dropped. Rabuka’s coalition won almost 45 percent of the vote.
Fiji spans more than 300 tropical islands, but has a population of about 1 million people. It is one of the South Pacific’s most powerful voices in the global debate on climate change, being threatened by rising sea levels.
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