SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — Fiji's opposition on Thursday demanded counting be stopped in the coup-prone nation's bitterly-fought general election, alleging serious "anomalies" that put the legitimacy of the vote in doubt.

Voters across the chain of 300-plus South Pacific islands on Wednesday cast their ballots to elect a government for the next four years.

Two former military leaders are vying to be prime minister — incumbent Frank Bainimarama who came to power in a putsch 16 years ago, and Sitiveni Rabuka, a two-time coup leader nicknamed "Rambo."
Fiji has endured four coups since 1987 and this year's election was a test of its fledgling democracy.

Voting day passed without major incident, but the ongoing count has been marred by a late-night "glitch" that hid the tally from public view for four hours.

Rabuka had led the polls in very early results, lifting supporters' hopes and raising the prospect of the first peaceful transition of power in two decades.

But when the system was restored just before dawn on Thursday, he was trailing Bainimarama by a significant margin.

He and three other opposition leaders then raised the stakes further, threatening to boycott the next parliament if their demands for a halt to the count and an "urgent forensic audit" are not met.
Final voting results are not expected until Sunday and may yet be further delayed, but partial tallies showed a tight race.

Bainimarama's Fiji First party held around 45 percent of the vote, with more than half of the country's 2,071 polling stations counted.

Rabuka's People's Alliance and its coalition partner — the National Federation Party — had just under 42 percent between them.

Rabuka has signalled that Fiji — one of the most prosperous and influential nations in the South Pacific — could loosen its ties with China if he is elected.

Fiji has grown closer to Beijing under Bainimarama, who used a "look north" policy to stabilize the economy after Australia and New Zealand hit the country with heavy trade sanctions in retaliation for his 2006 coup.

Fijian Elections Office boss Mohammed Saneem dismissed allegations of ballot rigging as "conspiracy theories."

But Rabuka and the three other opposition leaders are not convinced.

"We are fed up with these rigged elections," Fiji Labor Party leader and former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry told reporters.

Bainimarama, the media-shy ex-commodore who won elections in 2014 and 2018, has so far been silent on the controversy.