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Delays mar voting in Fiji

Polling to resume today in one-third of the nation's 300 far-flung islands

PHOTO: AP

Commander of Fiji Military Forces Commodore Frank Bainimarama (right), stands in line waiting to cast his vote in the general election in Suva, Fiji, on Saturday.

SUVA (Fiji): Fiji's election supervisor on Sunday on took responsibility for long delays and other problems at voting stations on the first day of the week-long elections dominated by ethnic tensions and a dispute between the military chief and the Prime Minister.

Polling booths were closed as scheduled on Sunday in the strongly Christian country, and voting would resume on Monday in the one-third of the nation's 300 far-flung islands that are inhabited.

On Saturday, the first day of voting, thousands of people waited for hours and others were turned away from several polling stations — most in the capital, Suva — because ballot papers and electoral rolls had not arrived on time, election officials said.

Election Supervisor Semesa Karavaki said affected stations were kept open after the scheduled 5 p.m. closing time to make up for lost time.

The contest to fill 71 parliamentary seats and elect a Prime Minister is a test of this former British colony's democracy, which has weathered three coups in the past decade and remains split by tensions between the indigenous Fijian majority and the large ethnic Indian minority. — AP

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