Fijians urged to vote on final day of chaotic poll

SUVA - Officials running Fiji's chaotic election urged voters to make one last effort to cast their ballots on the final day of polling today after a sluggish turnout.

Just over 217,000 people, less than half of Fiji's roughly 470,000 eligible voters, had cast their ballots over the first five days of polling in the week-long election.

Polling started badly a week ago when the late arrival of ballot papers and boxes forced thousands to queue for hours in the blazing tropical sun in the capital Suva and across the rural west of the main island of Viti Levu.

The election pits indigenous Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase against ethnic Indian opposition leader Mahendra Chaudhry, who was toppled in a coup by armed nationalists in 2000. Both have said they expect to win a majority in the 71-seat parliament.

Fiji has suffered three racially motivated coups against Indian-dominated governments since 1987, as well as a bloody mutiny several months after Chaudhry's elected government fell.

Fiji's outspoken military chief Frank Bainimarama said he would act against candidates who incited racial hatred, underscoring the tense nature of the poll.

With many polling stations in far-flung rural areas and islands already closed, Assistant Elections Supervisor Semi Matalau urged Fijians to get to urban polling stations.

"We duly request voters who have missed voting all throughout the week to attempt to cast their votes at the urban centers," he told reporters.

Polling stations would remain open beyond their scheduled closing times if voters were still lining up, officials said.

Matalau said he expected at least half of Fiji's registered voters would cast ballots on Saturday, which would mean total voter turnout would roughly match or exceed the figure of about 80 per cent when Qarase won power in 2001.

Allegations of rigging

Vote counting will not begin until Monday. Matalau's office said preliminary results should be available later that day and a final count on Tuesday.

Hundreds of sealed, wooden ballot boxes were being carried by boats, trucks and planes to a central counting station in the capital Suva on Saturday before the counting begins.

Chaudhry has lodged a complaint with police over thousands of names missing from electoral rolls and thousands of extra ballot papers which have been printed.

He said this week he believed the election was being systematically rigged in an attempt to disenfranchise ethnic Indian voters and to ensure that Qarase's mainly indigenous government is returned, claims Qarase has brushed aside.

The election was overshadowed on Friday by the surprise court appearance of former prime minister and 1987 coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka on charges of inciting mutiny over a bloody attempt to topple Bainimarama in November 2000.

Police described the timing Rabuka's court appearance as coincidental.

The former military strongman will appear again in Fiji's High Court next month. He said he would plead not guilty.

Indigenous Fijians, who make up 51 per cent of the 906,000 population, fear that the economic clout of ethnic Indians who dominate the sugar- and tourism-based economy will be matched by political power, adding to persistent racial tensions.

- REUTERS