Indian-led party wins Fiji polls

Indian-led party wins Fiji polls

SUVA (Reuters): Fiji's Mahendra Chaudhry, leader of the Indian-dominated Fiji Labor Party, on Monday declared victory in an historic multi-race election and said he would be Fiji's first Indian prime minister.

Chaudhry said his Labor-led coalition, which includes two Fijian parties, would hold 52 seats in Fiji's new 71-seat parliament. His Labor party alone would snare 38 seats.

"I am pleasantly surprised and humbled by this massive victory," Chaudhry said in an interview.

Chaudhry's Labor coalition trounced Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's rainbow coalition, with Indian voters taking revenge for his 1987 coup which toppled Fiji's first Indian-dominated government and divided this nation along racial lines.