In a geopolitical struggle for power in the region between Beijing and Washington, voters on over 900 islands are awaiting the outcome of the contest between opposition leader Peter Kenilorea Jr. and incumbent pro-China PM Manasseh Sogavare and the West.
In the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands are holding a vote counting that is being closely followed from a distance as China’s attempts to establish its influence in the area are put to the test.
Ballots were transported to a strongly guarded counting center in the nation’s capital, Honiara, where they were supervised by multinational teams of Australian police officers and uniformed Fijian troops.
Voting boxes were still being transported from the furthest regions of the volcanic archipelago to provincial centers for tallying, which might cause some results to be delayed by several days.
Jasper Anisi, the chief electoral official, stated on Thursday that “everything is peaceful” thus far. This is quite an accomplishment considering how frequently violent elections have broken out in the country.
The laborious electoral procedure doesn’t end with the manual tallying of the paper votes.
The 50 members of the parliament will start negotiating behind closed doors to form a government coalition as soon as they are all elected.
A prime minister won’t surface until after everything has settled.
Chinese media suggests the US may be planning riots.
Manasseh Sogavare, the current prime minister, is one of China’s most well-known supporters in the area, although his principal rivals are mixed in their assessment of Beijing’s increasing power.
Significant and unverified allegations of foreign meddling have raised the stakes for a vote that is already being referred to as one of the most important in the country’s history.
In the meantime, a front-runner for the position of prime minister in the Solomon Islands has promised to destroy a security agreement with China.
According to Peter Kenilorea, “if we are in government, we will abolish the security treaty,” he stated to AFP from his Malaita island village stronghold.
“We don’t think that it’s beneficial to the Solomon Islands.”
There have been reports from Chinese news agencies that the US may be planning disturbances to prevent Sogavare from taking back power.
Such rumors, according to US Ambassador Ann Marie Yastischock, are “blatantly misleading”.
“We strongly refute allegations being made in known propaganda outlets that claim USAID and the US Government has sought to influence the upcoming election in Solomon Islands,” she stated in a press release.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
