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.