Final results due in cliffhanger Fiji election

Fiji’s under-fire elections office is poised to announce the final results of a cliffhanger election Sunday, after a contentious campaign marked by allegations of fraud and calls for the military to intervene. 

Rival ex-coup leaders Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka are neck-and-neck with almost 99 percent of stations reporting. 

The final results are now expected at around 2:00 pm (0200 GMT), several hours later than initially planned. 

It has been a tumultuous few days in the South Pacific archipelago nation. After polls closed Wednesday, opposition leader Rabuka alleged “anomalies” in the count, asked the country’s powerful military to step in and was hauled in for questioning by detectives.

On his release, he told AFP it was part of a government effort by to intimidate him.

“The way this government has operated, we’ve been talking about a climate of fear. This is how they instill that fear,” he said.

Incumbent Prime Minister Bainimarama — who seized power in a 2006 putsch — was on Sunday morning deadlocked with Rabuka’s coalition, both two short of the 28 seats needed for a majority. 

Deeply Christian Fijian businessman Viliame Gavoka and his Social Democratic party look set to hold the balance of power with fewer than 100 polling stations left to count. 

Gavoka has fallen out with both Bainimarama and Rabuka in the past. 

The vote holds regional significance — Bainimarama has been close with Beijing, while Rabuka has signalled his desire to loosen Fiji’s ties to China. 

Fiji has been upended by four coups in the past 35 years, and many on the streets of its capital, Suva, had hoped in vain for a smooth election. 

The trouble started early Thursday morning when what the 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 shotputter nicknamed “Rambo”, was then called in for police questioning late Friday night. 

Military commander Jone Kalouniwai rebuffed Rabuka’s plea. 

Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry — a former prime minister ousted in a coup — on Saturday repeated claims that the election had been undermined by voter fraud. 

Election supervisor Mohammed Saneem hit back, saying Chaudhry had provided no evidence. 

“Mr Chaudhry has made a grand claim about voter fraud,” he told reporters at the national vote centre.

“This is serious ladies and gentlemen. Step up with the evidence.” 

Ex-navy commodore Bainimarama legitimised his government through outright election wins in 2014 and 2018 — but his majority has shrunk each time. 

Fiji is comprised of more than 300 tropical islands but has a population of just shy of one million people.

Still, it is one of the South Pacific’s major players and a powerful voice in the global debate on climate change. 

Already threatened by rising sea levels, Fiji was the first country to ratify the Paris climate agreement in 2016.