More than 60 percent of the national results of the Solomon Islands election are now in.

So far, two female MPs have been elected and three former prime ministers may be in the running for the top job.

Counting is still progressing at a snail’s pace — partly because it took so long to transport ballot boxes from remote communities to counting centres, but also because the country is conducting its first joint election of provincial and national candidates.

As of Monday morning, Our Party, the largest single grouping in the last coalition government, was in the lead having won 32 percent of counted votes, followed closely by independent MPs on 31 percent.

Then came the Development Party on just under 17 percent, with the United Party rounding out the top four on 6.1 percent.

Chief Electoral Officer Jasper Anisi said that more than half of all national ballots had been counted.

“For parliamentary elections 68 percent — that is what they have already declared. Provincial assembly 86 and HCC [Honiara City Council] 82 percent.”

Seeking ‘good government’
RNZ Pacific spoke with some voters who asked to remain anonymous about their expectations.

“I want a good government, a good leader for us so that we can see some good,” one said.

“Like when there is a good government, our kids will have jobs. I won’t have to come to market all the time until I grow old.”

Another said: “I want a new prime minister for our economy so that it is good. Because the last prime minister or government, our economy is not good.”

But it is still early days as far as coalition negotiations.

In terms of potential leaders, there are several former prime ministers already among those returning to the house, including incumbent Manasseh Sogavare, Rick Hou and potentially Gordon Darcy Lilo, who is leading the count by a large margin in his electorate.

Meanwhile, incumbent MP Freda Soria Comua and independent candidate Choylin Douglas are the first two women candidates to officially make it through in this election, while another independent candidate, Cathy Nori, has been mentioned in provisional results.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The People’s Alliance Party took an early lead in the Fiji general election vote tally this evening with a total of 21,810 votes recorded after the completion of counting from 470 of the 2071 polling stations.

The governing FijiFirst Party was in second place with 16,515 votes and SODELPA running third with 3684 votes.

The National Federation Party followed with 3256 votes and Unity Fiji in fifth place with 1688 votes.

The other results by party as at the 5pm update provided by the Fijian Elections Office are:

Fiji Labour Party – 1269
We Unite Fiji Party – 1179
All Peoples Party – 614
New Generation Party – 175
Rajendra Sharma (Independent) – 26
Ravinesh Reddy (Independent) – 21

The top five candidates at that update were:

Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama – 11,248
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka – 6738
Lynda Diseru Tabuya – 1397
Siromi Dokonivalu Turaga – 1048
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum – 927

Counting continues at the National Count Centre and the next update is due to be provided by the Supervisor of Elections at 10pm.

Timoci Vula is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Fiji’s military will respect electoral process – Kalouniwai
RNZ Pacific reports that the Fiji military commander has rejected a request by opposition party leaders to intervene in a dispute over the country’s election process.

Major-General Jone Kalouniwai said the military (RFMF) as an institution would put its trust in the electoral process.

“I wish to reassure the people of Fiji that the RFMF will not respond to [PAP leader Sitiveni ] Rabuka’s insistence or any political party, that we intervene under our responsibilities from Section 131.2 of the 2013 Constitution,” Kalouniwai said.

“The constitutional responsibility of the RFMF section 131.2 does not make any reference to intervening or getting involved with the electoral processes or management of voting or counting of votes with the assistance of the military.”

Kalouniwai explained that using the military in any form during the electoral process was unconstitutional.

The statement came after a group of opposition party leaders called for a halt to vote counting yesterday, demanding an audit of the country’s electoral system.

It was triggered by an anomaly in provisional results that was displayed on a Fiji Election Office results app on Wednesday night.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz