Voters across nearly 900 islands await results as incumbent pro-China PM Manasseh Sogavare faces Western-backed opposition leader Peter Kenilorea Jr. amidst geopolitical stand-off between Beijing and Washington for regional influence.
Vote counting is under way in the Solomon Islands, a tiny nation within the South Pacific, as local and international communities keenly await the final results. / Photo: AFP
Ballots were trucked into a heavily guarded counting centre in the capital Honiara, watched over by international teams of uniformed Fijian soldiers and Australian police. Chief electoral officer Jasper Anisi said on Thursday that"everything is peaceful" so far — no mean feat in a nation where elections have often spilled over into violence.Once the parliament's 50 members are finally elected, they will begin bartering with each other behind closed doors to cobble together a ruling coalition.
Startling and unproven claims of foreign interference have upped the ante for a vote already billed as one of the nation's most crucial in a generation.
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