Votes are being counted in the Fijian elections, and it doesn't look good for the Fijian Labour Party. Looking at the results pages, 61 of 71 seats have been declared so far, with 32 going to the ruling SDL, 25 to the FLP, 2 to the United Peoples Party and 2 to independent candidates. The seats still to declare are large and urban (FWIW), but the electoral maths is such that an SDL government looks likely - and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has already claimed victory.
The usual worry in a Fijian election is that if the Labour party wins, there will be a coup. This time, there's also the worry of trouble if the SDL wins, due to the simmering tensions between the Prime Minister and military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama. The Fijian people can't seem to win either way, and it would be so much easier if they could vote without fear that a bunch of thugs in guns (in or out of uniform) would seek to veto their choice.
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Update: results are now SDL 34, FLP 28, UPP2, IND 2, with 5 seats still to come. 26 seats are needed for a majority, so even if it won the rest, the FLP couldn't form a government unless everybody else united against the SDL. You win some, you lose some...
Posted by Idiot/Savant : 5/17/2006 03:26:00 PM
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