Australian Foreign Minister congratulates Fiji for holding elections

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has congratulated Fiji for holding elections on the 17th of this month, the first election since 2006.

Bishop said based on provisional results, the FijiFirst party is on track to win a majority of seats in Fiji’s Parliament which Australia looks forward to working with when it is formed.

Bishop has also welcomed the provisional statement of the Multi-National Observer Group which found the conditions were in place for Fijians to exercise their right to vote freely and that the outcome was on track to broadly represent the will of the Fijian voters.

Ten current and former parliamentarians represented Australia in the Multi-National Observer Group which consists of over 90 observers from 13 different countries.

Australia provided support to Fiji’s election process, including funding six Australian election experts in the Fijian Elections Office.