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Last Updated: Apr 9, 2007 - 12:46:40 AM |
Nationalist leader Laisenia Qarase was sworn in Thursday for a second, five-year term as prime minister of this racially divided South Pacific nation following his narrow election win over an ethnic Indian rival.
Qarase took his oath of office at Government House in the Fijian capital, Suva, after election officials confirmed his Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party had won 36 seats in the 71-member Parliament in May 6-13 elections.
Fiji's incumbent prime minister Laisenia Qarase addresses reporters after gaining written commitments of support from two independent lawmakers, giving him a narrow majority in Parliament following this month's general elections, in Suva, Fiji, Thursday, May 18, 2006. Qarase expected to be reappointed for a second five-year term by the South Pacific nation's president later Thursday. (AP Photo/ZoomFiji, Bruce Southwick) (Bruce Southwick - AP)
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Qarase, whose tensions with Fiji's military commander have stoked fears of a coup, said earlier he also had secured written commitments of support from two independent lawmakers, which would give him a majority of 38 seats.
"I do command the respect, loyalty and support of a majority of members of the lower house of representatives," Qarase said before the swearing-in ceremony in the colonial-era mansion overlooking Suva harbor.
The Labour Party, led by former prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry, an Indian who was ousted in a 2000 coup by armed Fijian nationalists, won 31 seats in the tightly contested election. Labour also has the support of two lawmakers from the allied United Peoples' Party.
There was no immediate comment from Chaudhry on the defeat.
Qarase said he expected to swear in a new Cabinet on Monday and would offer seven Cabinet posts to the Labour Party, in line with a constitutional provision that any party gaining more than 10 percent of the vote should be offered Cabinet positions.
The SDL will have 10 posts, and the two independent lawmakers also will be in the Cabinet.
Fiji, a South Pacific nation of about 900,000 people about 1,800 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, has been rocked by three coups since 1987 and there are fears the latest elections could trigger another.
Indigenous Fijians make up a small majority of the population but in recent years nationalists have become increasingly bitter at what they see as the disproportionate political and economic clout wielded by Indians whose ancestors were imported by British colonialists to work in sugar cane plantations.
Earlier Thursday, military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who has repeatedly criticized Qarase for his moves to pardon participants in the 2000 coup, urged the independents to side with Labour and accused Qarase of plotting to replace him.
"Labour will do the right thing and take away all these radical issues," he said.
Bainimarama added that he had heard rumors Qarase could fire him and replace him with a New Zealand military officer. "That is not going to happen," he said. "The Fiji military is not going to allow that."
New Zealand officials denied Bainimarama's claim in a statement.
Qarase said he was prepared to meet Bainimarama in a bid to clear the air.
"We'll need to tackle the issue as early as possible," he said. "But we hope that issue, the differences will be resolved without too much problem."
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