18 Sep 2014

Fiji government rejects poll fraud claims

8:37 pm on 18 September 2014

Fiji's Minister of Elections Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has rejected five political parties' claims of a fraudulent election.

The parties have called on Fiji's election authorities to suspend the vote count because they say they have seen many corrupt and unlawful practices during the polls.

Provisional results show an overwhelming 60 percent of the vote for the FijiFirst party led by the prime minister Frank Bainimarama.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji's Attorney-General

Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji's Attorney-General Photo: RNZ / Republika

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum who is also a candidate for FijiFirst says the claims lack credibility.

"It is very interesting that they are now making these types of claims after the results are now coming out where it would indicate that Fiji First is going to win government. They had all the time yesterday [wednesday]. If they found any anomalies they should have made those concerns brought to the attention of the election officials almost immediately."

Fiji's Elections Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum