Suva (Fiji) (AFP) - Fiji's ruling party on Wednesday refused to accept election defeat and signalled it would fight for the country's leader of 16 years Frank Bainimarama to remain in office.
In the government's first public comments since a contentious December 14 election, Bainimarama's Fiji First party claimed a deal among opposition parties to form a government was illegitimate.
"Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama is still the prime minister, so get that right," said Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, the party's general-secretary who doubles as Fiji's attorney-general.
Long-time opposition leader, Sitiveni "Rambo" Rabuka -- a former rugby international and coup leader-turned-democrat -- on Tuesday reached a deal with a minor party, the Social Democratic Liberal Party, that would give him a parliamentary majority.
The government, while accepting results that showed Bainimarama and Rabuka's alliance neck-and-neck, painted opposition efforts to form a new administration as trying to stoke unrest.
"They are creating disquiet in the community, their motivation is not humble, their motivation is not trying to create stability," Sayed-Khaiyum claimed.
He also said the coalition agreement was "legally immaterial", and insisted parliament would have to vote to elect the prime minister.
Sayed-Khaiyum added that the government would try to unpick the coalition agreement by wooing the Social Democratic Liberal Party to form its own parliamentary majority, while also raising the prospect new elections may be needed.
He also claimed that "the level of racism in this country has heightened" since Tuesday, raising the prospect of inter-communal violence targeting Fiji's large Indo-Fijian minority -- a group that has tended to support Bainimarama.
"Have you seen the toxic environment that has been created since yesterday on social media?" Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Earlier Wednesday a police commander appointed by the government expressed concern about post-election "stoning incidents" and anti Indo-Fijian violence.
The force later admitted that reports of such incidents had not been investigated.
There has been no widespread unrest since the election.
So far, only New Zealand's foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has offered Rabuka her "congratulations" on forming a coalition to lead the country -- a statement that Sayed-Khaiyum called "unfortunate" and ill-informed.
Wellington later tempered that statement to say the dust had yet to settle from the troubled poll.
Bainimarama -- who took power in a 2006 coup but has since won two democratic elections -- has not spoken in public since casting his vote.
Although he has previously vowed to respect the election result, Fiji has been upended by four coups in the past 35 years.
The 68-year-old has dominated Fiji's politics for close to two decades and news of the coalition deal was greeted with celebrations on the streets of Suva on Tuesday.
While not an outright autocrat, Bainimarama's government has frequently used the legal system to sideline opponents, silence critics and muzzle the media.
