Fiji military orders inquiry over personality of the year contest

Jan 13, 2012, 5:54 GMT

Wellington - Fiji's government has ordered an inquiry into a phone text competition for personality of the year after the military regime's leader, Commander Voreqe Bainimarama, was initially beaten into second place, according to reports from the capital Suva on Friday.

Fiji Television reported on January 1 that the competition it ran with mobile phone operator Vodafone had been won by a woman, Premila Kumar, chief executive of the Fiji Consumer Council.

Eight days later, it reversed the result, awarding the title to armed forces head Voreqe Bainimarama, who ousted the elected government five years ago in a bloodless coup and declared himself prime minister.

Radio Fiji reported that Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has ordered the Commerce Commission and the Media Development Authority to investigate Fiji Television for 'unethical practices.'

The authority was set up by the military, which imposed censorship forbidding criticism of the government that was lifted on Saturday and has powers to close down media outlets.

'The allegation is that members of the public could text in and give their vote and the announcement was going to be made on the first of January,' Sayed-Khaiyum,' said according to the onlines Fijivillage.com website.

'Unannounced to many members of the public, Fiji TV closed the actual polls on the 30th of December as opposed to the 31st of December.'

This shut out 1,500 votes sent in on December 31 - almost all for Bainimarama, New Zealand's Stuff news website said.

'We understand that Fiji TV subsequently made an apology and reversing the outcome but what we are concerned about is the manner in which it was done in the first place,' Sayed-Khaiyum said.

He said that the concern was not who the winner was, but how the poll was conducted.

Fiji TV chief executive Tarun Patel was reported as saying the company would cooperate fully with any investigations.