Vote counting finishes in Fiji election with no clear winner
The Hindu
Election officials said they'd found an anomaly in the system and needed to reload the results. When the next batch of results was posted, Mr. Bainimarama's party was in front.
Vote counting finished in Fiji's general election on Sunday but there was no clear winner, and various political parties are now negotiating to form a coalition government.
The election had pitted two former coup leaders against each other.
Sitiveni Rabuka, who led a coup back in 1987 and later served as an elected prime minister in the 1990s, emerged as the main challenger to Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who has held power for the past 16 years.
Mr. Rabuka's People's Alliance Party and allies the National Federation Party won about 45 per cent of the vote combined. Mr. Bainimarama's Fiji's First party, meanwhile, won about 43 per cent.
That has left both sides seeking to form a coalition with the Social Democrat Liberal Party.
The liberal party's General Secretary Lenaitasi Duru told media they were having meetings with both sides.
“The first round of negotiations was done yesterday,” Mr. Duru said. "We are expecting more negotiations later this afternoon.” He said the party's priorities included Indigenous affairs and education.
With a new government in place in Delhi, Singapore hopes to schedule the Ministerial Roundtable with India shortly, says Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. In an exclusive interview, he speaks about the impact of the elections on ties, the “missed opportunity” of RCEP and the new buzz around Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.