Fiji announces poll dates

Fiji announced Friday that general elections in the country, which has a large ethnic Indian population, will be held Sep 17.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, the country's attorney general and minister responsible for elections, said at a press conference here that the election day would be a paid public holiday, Xinhua reported.

Acting permanent secretary for justice Mohammad Saneem will resign Monday to become the election supervisor, he added.

Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who came to power after a 2006 coup, has resigned as commander of the country's military forces and said he would form a political party to contest the general elections.

Ethnic Indians comprise 37 percent of Fiji's population of nearly 870,000.

Most of them are descendants of indentured labourers who were brought in from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the country's sugarcane plantations.