Fiji Dismisses Claims of Vote Fraud
Fiji authorities have rejected claims of a corrupt election as the Fiji First Party of coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama closed in on a landslide victory Saturday.
With nearly two-thirds of the votes confirmed following the Pacific nation's first democratic vote in eight years, Fiji First had 57.6 percent of the vote, well clear of the Social Democratic Liberal Party trailing on 29.6 percent.
However, the final result from last Wednesday's ballot was not expected until Sunday or Monday.
Five parties complained to electoral officials about voting irregularities including broken seals on ballot boxes and names added manually to the voter register.
Electoral Commission chairman Chen Bunn Young said that while "serious allegations" would be investigated his staff were satisfied the election was property conducted.
"The Electoral Commission has made their own observations from pre-polling to polling right throughout the divisions ... and we were satisfied with ourselves that the elections were carried out in a free and fair manner," he said.
A Multinational Observer Group has declared the election "credible" and representing the will of Fijians.
Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, said in a statement Saturday the election was a "welcome turning point" for Fiji.
"The people of Fiji are to be congratulated for participating peacefully in large numbers in a democratic process to express their views clearly on their choice of leaders and representatives," he said.
"The authorities of Fiji are also to be commended for their organization and administration of the election."
Fiji saw four coups between 1987 and 2006, but police have dismissed talk on social media of further civil unrest following this election.
"On the rumors of a coup, I can confirm today that we are ruling it out; there will not be any coup,” police assistant commissioner Rusiate Tadravu said.
"We won’t hesitate to take in people where we find evidence that they are sending out rumors," he added.
Source: Agence France Presse
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