Long delays, queues mar start of Fiji election

Fiji's racially charged election got off to a chaotic and embarrassing start yesterday when the late arrival of ballot papers forced thousands to queue for hours, with some being turned away and told to return later.

The elections office kept voting stations open up to two hours longer after some voters were kept waiting for four hours in the capital Suva and the rural west of the main island of Viti Levu.

The delays added to a tense build-up to the week-long election, with police and the military warning they would not tolerate incitements to racial hatred in a nation which has suffered three racially motivated coups and a bloody army mutiny since 1987.

The poll pits indigenous Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase against Mahendra Chaudhry, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2000 coup by armed nationalists, with both predicting they would win a majority in the 71-seat parliament.

Indigenous Fijians who make up 51 per cent of the 906,000 population fear that the economic clout of ethnic Indians, who dominate the sugar- and tourism-based economy, will be matched by political power.

Voters at the racially-mixed village of Sabeto were angered by delays caused by the late arrival of ballot papers. Villager Sohrab Ali was told to leave and return later because the right ballots for his constituency had not arrived. Chaudhry said election supervisor Semesa Karavaki should resign. Karavaki was absent because of religious beliefs.

"Look at the mess he's made and he's not at work today," Fiji Labour Party (FLP) leader Chaudhry told reporters.

Karavaki's deputy Semi Matalau apologised, blaming the delays on "logistical problems" which had been rectified.

"We assure you that it will be 100 per cent ready tomorrow," Matalau told a media conference.

Voting will stop in the deeply religious South Pacific nation today and resume tomorrow for another six days.

A result is expected to be known on May 18. Voting in the archipelago usually takes at least a week given the logistical problems involved in collecting ballots from far-flung islands and villages.