Fiji’s opposition to challenge election results
The leader of Fiji’s opposition has declared that he will contest the election results.
When authorities shut down the election results app on Thursday, citing technical issues, Sitiveni Rabuka’s alliance was in the lead in the early count. Four hours later, the results were posted online, and Fiji First, the party of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, was expected to win the general election that had taken place the day before.
Based on tallies from half of all polling places, the results showed that Fiji First received 45.88 percent of the vote. People’s Alliance, the party of Rabuka, received 32.66 percent of the vote, and National Federation Party, its coalition partner, received 9.29 percent.
The 74-year-old Rabuka told reporters that his party was “unhappy with the result after the interval, after the hiccup.”
He promised to seek an explanation from the Fijian electoral commission.
In an interview with the AFP news agency earlier in the day, he stated, “We will explore every path available to us to make sure that the people are not denied their right to elect their government.”
“I need to be persuaded that the outcome is correct. Even with the courts’ involvement,” he continued.
Rabuka, who took charge of two coups in 1987 and held the position of prime minister from 1992 to 1999, is attempting to oust Bainimarama after 16 years in office. Electoral victories in 2014 and 2018 helped Bainimarama solidify his hold on power after seizing it in a coup in 2006.
The poll is being viewed as a test of the Pacific nation’s developing democracy after four coups in the previous 35 years.
Election officials scheduled a press conference to defend the integrity of the count as the late-night suspension of results dominated local television broadcasts and Fijians turned to social media to express their rage.
Credit: Al-Jazeera
