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Last Updated: Apr 9, 2007 - 12:46:40 AM |
The brother of Fijian coup leader, George Speight, has retained his seat as counting continues in the country's election.
With results declared for 30 seats in the 71-member parliament, caretaker Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's ruling SDL party has won 14 seats and the main opposition Labour Party of former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry 13 seats.
The ABC reports George Speight actually won the Fijian communal seat of Tailevu North in the 2001 elections for the Conservative Alliance Party, but had to surrender it because he was in prison.
His brother, Samisoni Tokoinasau, also known as Sam Speight, then won the by-election also standing for the Conservative Alliance.
Mr Tokoinasau, who wants his brother freed from prison, retained his seat winning 81 percent of the vote.
With vote counting reaching its half way mark, hopes are fading that it will be completed tonight. Preliminary turnout figures are much higher than predicted and this means the count will take longer.
Results declared so far show a tight race between SDL Party and the Fiji Labour Party.
While the two parties swept the Fijian and Indian seats, the first seat open to all races was won by an SDL candidate, Ratu Josefa Dimuri, a former senator who was briefly jailed for his role in the 2000 Labasa mutiny.
Supervisor of elections, Semesa Karavaki, says the count may not be complete before tomorrow.
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