Less than 80 polling stations are left to be tallied to determine the final vote count, projected to be released today, and the ruling FijiFirst party remains in the lead, but not enough to secure a majority and form government outright.
As of the latest update a short while ago with the results of 77 stations still to be entered, FijiFirst had amassed 192,746 votes, earning themselves 26 seats, equal to the combined seats of coalition partners The People’s Alliance with 21, and National Federation Party with five, whilst Social Democratic Liberal Party, with three seats, is projected to decide the formation of the Fijian Government.
“If we are not done by 6 am we will then continue entering the results until we are done,” Mr. Saneem said at a presser yesterday afternoon. “But for now, we are targeting a 6 am finish.”
As of their 5 pm update yesterday, the FEO was dealing with about 50 boxes that were sent in where the presiding officers had put the protocol of results inside the box. In such cases, the FEO requires party agents to be on-site to witness the protocol of results’ extraction and have them sent for counting.
Meanwhile, the SoE also denied claims by parties that their agents were removed from the venue of the count center without notice.
“The entire election counting had finished, that means they were no longer required at the count centre and they were politely asked to leave. Their party registered officers had been informed at least 2-3 hours notice.”
