18 Apr 2006

Angry reaction to Rini election in Solomon Islands

3:35 pm on 18 April 2006

There has been an angry reaction to the election of Snyder Rini as the new Prime Minister of Solomon Islands.

Mr Rini, the former deputy prime minister, was one of three nominees as leader along with Job Dudley Tausinga and Manasseh Sogavare.

In this morning's voting at parliament, Mr Sogavare was the first to be eliminated.

The second ballot was 27 to 23 in Mr Rini's favour but, as Dorothy Wickham reports, the large crowd has gathered outside the parliament to express its dissatisfaction with the result.

"When the Governor General came out to announce the result the crowd went up, they were so angry, they were jeering him, they called the government a Chinese government. Now they have blocked the entrance to Parliament - they are refusing to move - they say they want the members of Parliament to go back in to vote again and change the government."

Meanwhile, Mr Rini has held a news conference to announce his administration will continue of the policies of the previous government.

He also says the protesters are entitled to express their opinions.