Fiji Returns To Democracy

Fijians flocked to vote Wednesday in the South Pacific nation's first election since a 2006 coup, with officials declaring the poll trouble free and military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama saying he would win.

Fijian President Epeli Nailatikau called for a violence-free election on Tuesday as the South Pacific nation prepares to return to democracy almost eight years after a military coup.

There was a mood of optimism tinged with apprehension at Suva's eerily quiet central market Tuesday ahead of the first election for eight years in Fiji - a South Pacific island nation with a history of coups.

Fijians flocked to vote Wednesday in the South Pacific nation's first election since a 2006 coup, with officials declaring the poll trouble free and military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama saying he would win.

Fijian President Epeli Nailatikau called for a violence-free election on Tuesday as the South Pacific nation prepares to return to democracy almost eight years after a military coup.

There was a mood of optimism tinged with apprehension at Suva's eerily quiet central market Tuesday ahead of the first election for eight years in Fiji - a South Pacific island nation with a history of coups.