Rabuka promises change after winning close Fiji election

By NICK PERRY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Sitiveni Rabuka has won a close election in Fiji and is promising change as the South Pacific nation’s first new leader in 16 years. His win came after three political parties announced late Tuesday they would form a coalition following days of negotiations after last week’s election. Rabuka’s victory brings to an end the long reign of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in a 2006 military coup and later refashioned himself as a democratic leader by introducing a new constitution and winning elections in 2014 and again in 2018. Rabuka is also a former coup leader. He led Fiji’s first military takeover in 1987 and later served seven years as an elected prime minister in the 1990s.