RNZI: The party of Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama holds a commanding lead based on provisional results in the country’s landmark election.
Votes from more than half the polling stations have been tallied and after 12 hours of counting FijiFirst has 60 percent of the vote.
Its nearest rival Sodelpa, which has its foundations in the party of ousted prime minister Laisenia Qarase is sitting on 26 percent.
Nearly 340 thousand votes have been counted so far, more than half of those who registered to vote.
Frank Bainimarama is well in front individually, with nearly five times the votes of the Sodelpa leader and paramount chief Ro Teimumu Kepa.
Just over 40% of the votes in the more populated Central and Western divisions of the country have been counted.
But just 1% of votes from the remoter Eastern division have been tallied.
This area is seen by some as a stronghold of the Sodelpa party.
Fiji is voting for a new-look parliament of 50 MPs based on proportional representation.
After regular updates throughout the night, the elections authorities say the next results are not due out until later this afternoon.
– RNZI
