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WORLD NEWS | Rabuka confirmed as Fiji PM after close election

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MELBOURNE, Dec. 24 (AP) — Sitiveni Rabuka was confirmed Saturday as Fiji’s next prime minister, after the former military commander first held the post for nearly seven years.

The 74-year-old beat incumbent President Frank Bainimarama for the nomination by one vote at the Fijian Parliament session in Suva.

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Rabuka, the head of the Awami League party, was elevated to the post after forming a majority coalition with two other parties after last week’s close and disputed elections.

He will be officially sworn in at Government House later on Saturday.

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The tripartite coalition announced on Tuesday that it intends to form a government with 29 seats, compared with 26 for Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party.

The Awami League and the affiliated National Federation Party shared 26 seats, but were able to break the deadlock by forming an alliance with the Social Democratic Freedom Party.

But Bainimarama, who has been Fiji’s prime minister for nearly 16 years, and the Fiji First party refused to recognize the results in the days after the vote.

Lawmakers voted Rabuka 28-27 in a secret ballot Saturday.

It turned out that one member of the new ruling coalition was against changing the prime minister.

The same split in votes emerged earlier in the three-hour Christmas Eve parliamentary session when voting for the roles of speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives emerged.

It’s been a tense week for Fiji, a Pacific nation whose democracy remains fragile.

On Thursday, Army and Navy personnel were reportedly called in to protect minorities from threats after the election.

There have been four military coups in Fiji in the past 35 years, and both Rabuka and Bainimarama have played leading roles in previous efforts to overthrow Fiji’s former leaders.

Rabuka, who also served as prime minister from 1992 to 1999, instigated two coups in 1987.

Bainimarama instigated a coup in 2006 that led to the removal of Laisenia Quarase, a post he held until Saturday’s ascension by Rabuka .

Earlier in the meeting, Naiqama Lalabalavu was voted ahead of FijiFirst candidate Epeli Nailatikau, who served as President of Fiji from 2009 to 2015, in a secret ballot. After getting one more vote, he was appointed as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)



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