Fiji vote count ends with no clear party majority

Vote counting has ended in Fiji's general election, but no party has managed to win an absolute majority.

Vote counting has ended in Fiji's general election, but no party has managed to win an absolute majority.

Election officials said the final seat was won by indigenous interim prime minister Mr Laisenia Qarase's Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party, giving it 31 seats in the 71-seat parliament.

Deposed prime minister Mr Mahendra Chaudhry's Fiji Labour Party won 27 seats.

Mr Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian leader, was taken hostage in the name of indigenous rights by nationalist gunmen under coup leader Mr George Speight in May 2000.