Suva, Fiji: Fiji's caretaker prime minister claimed victory on Wednesday in the racially divided South Pacific nation's parliamentary elections and said he was committed to improving relations between indigenous Fijians and the ethnic Indian minority.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Laisenia Qarase said his ruling Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) party had 35 seats according to the official count for the 71-seat Parliament.
He said one more seat was likely to go to his party once the count is finalized and that two independents would pledge their support for his coalition, giving him 37 or 38 seats.
At least one of the two independent lawmakers elected so far has pledged his support to Qarase.
Mahendra Chaudhry, leader of the opposition Labour Party did not immediately concede defeat. Earlier Wednesday he said the two independents had not definitely pledged to support Qarase's administration.
Qarase pledged to continue efforts to boost interracial tolerance in the nation of 906,000 where just over half the population is indigenous Fijian, despite voters in the election apparently splitting along racial lines.
''The racial polarisation has really come to the fore this time around,'' he said. ''It has been there before but not as strong as in this election, which shows there is still quite a wide gap as far as multiracialism (is concerned) in this country.''
Qarase said he had set up agencies during his first five-year term intended to promote reconciliation and multiracialism, but they so far had not borne fruit.
''The response to those efforts have been rather marginal,'' he told AP. ''But it's a beginning, I'm not going to give it up.''
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