Fiji leader loses majority in election

Bloomberg

Fiji’s long-time leader, Frank Bainimarama, failed to win a majority in elections held last week, leaving the Pacific island nation facing a hung parliament and a period of uncertainty as political parties look to form coalitions.
Bainimarama’s Fiji First Party won 26 seats in the vote, according to Fijilive.com and data from the Fiji Elections Office. That’s two short of the majority needed to form a government in the 55-member parliament. It typically takes days for final results to come in after the polls because ballots need to arrive from outlying islands.
The People’s Alliance Party came in second with 21 seats, with the rest taken by other parties, including the Social Democratic Liberal Party, or Sodelpa, which won three.
The result marks the first time since democratic elections resumed in Fiji in 2014 that Bainimarama’s party has failed to secure the majority needed to rule. He will need to woo at least one of the other parties into a coalition to maintain power, according to Radio New Zealand International.
Bainimarama has led Fiji since 2006, when the then-army chief seized power in a military coup.
He became prime minister in 2014 when Fiji First won a clear majority in elections held after years of pressure from the international community to
return the former British colony and tourist haven to democracy. Bainimarama won again in 2018, albeit with a smaller majority.