Fiji's ruling party wins general elections

Fiji's ruling FijiFirst party led by incumbent Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, has won this year's general elections.

According to the official results announced by Fiji's Electoral Commission on Sunday, the party topped the official tally of the 2018 general elections results with 227,241 votes, which is 50.02 per cent of the total votes in the island nation, reports Xinhua news agency.

The ruling party will get 27 parliamentary seats and form the next government.

The Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA), the nation's main opposition party, is in the second place on the official tally with 181,072 votes, 39.85 per cent of the total votes. It will get 21 parliamentary seats.

The National Federation Party (NFP) won 33,515 votes, 7.38 per cent of the total votes. It will get 3 parliamentary seats.

The total number of votes cast in the general elections was 458,532. Of which, the total number of valid votes was 454,335 while invalid ballots were 4,197 votes.

The total number of registered voters for the 2018 general elections was 637,527.

The Electoral Commission has returned the writ of election to President Jioji Konrote on Sunday, confirming that the 2018 general election has now been complete.

Bainimarama has voiced his satisfaction with the results of the elections, saying in a statement on Sunday that he is proud to become the island nation's Prime Minister once again.

He said that November 18 was truly "a great day in Fiji's history" where the majority of Fijians have emphatically voted and put their hand up to support the FijiFirst message of ongoing inclusive progress.

This is Fiji's second general elections since a military coup in 2006 and the last elections took place in 2014.

--IANS

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