Fiji General Elections

Fiji's SODELPA says back to the drawing board on coalition talks

Following almost four hours of politicking which started at 10.30am local time, party leader Viliame Gavoka emerged from the meeting to declare no deal had been made.

"Let me once again stress that we fully understand and appreciate the challenge that is with us at Sodelpa to decide how this country will be governed for the next four years," an emotional Gavoka told the media in Suva.

"We fully understand the significance of this. We are committed to ensuring that our decision who governs this country will be done for the best interest of our people."

Fiji to get a coalition government

The make-up of the new 55 seat parliament - according to the Fiji Elections Office results app - will be Fiji First with 26 seats, the People's Alliance Party with 21 seats, and the National Federation Party with five seats and the Social Democratic Liberal Party with three seats.

 

In order to be able to form government 28 seats are needed.

This means that for the first time since the return of democracy to Fiji in 2014, Frank Bainimarama's dominant Fiji First Party has failed to secure the majority of seats to rule in parliament.

People’s Alliance Party leads Fiji General Elections vote count

Led by former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the party currently secures 10960 votes, which is equivalent to 54.63 percent of the total votes counted so far.

FijiFirst is second with 4430 votes, equivalent to 22.08 percent.

Following in third place is the Social Democratic Liberal Party, which has 1633 votes, the National Federation Party has 1053 votes, Unity Fiji is fifth with 795 votes while the other four parties and the two independent candidates have scores all below 400.

Meanwhile, Rabuka and FijiFirst Leader Voreqe Bainimarama’s counts are neck-and-neck.

Fiji opposition leaders question integrity of election

This comes after provisional results, displayed on a Fiji Election Office app, showing a clear lead for the opposition People's Alliance Party, over the ruling Fiji First Party were stopped due to an upload error that the electoral office said redistributed the allocation of votes displayed in the app.

The app was taken offline for several hours and then restarted in the early hours of Thursday morning showing an almost unassailable lead for the ruling Fiji First Party over all other parties.