Fijian voters are going to the polls in the country’s first general election since a military coup eight years ago.

There were long queues at polling stations in and around the capital Suva on Wednesday, media reports said.

Some voters walked for up to five kilometres to reach polls, Fiji Times Online reported.

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More than 500,000 voters are registered to cast ballots that list seven political parties and some 240 candidates.

The election is regarded as a chance for Fiji to return to democracy, having undergone four military coups since 1987.

Pro-democracy activists and political commentators say that democratic transition is not guaranteed.

Voreqe Frank Bainimarama, the former army chief who led coups in 2000 and 2006, and his Fiji First party are widely expected to win the election. His main rival is Teimumu Kepa of the Social Democratic Liberal Party.

Bainimarama’s opponents say he has ruled the archipelago of fewer than one million people with an iron fist since he took power, blaming him for Fiji’s political and economic isolation.

He resigned as military chief in March to contest the election and has promised to accept the result.

Tens of thousands of rural voters cast their ballots in pre-polling, leaving eligible voters in urban areas to vote between 7.30am Wednesday and 6pm.

The Fijian Elections Office said votes will be tallied within 24 hours of the polls closing.

Observers from countries including Australia, Indonesia and India and the European Union are in Fiji.

Interim authorities imposed a 48-hour blackout period until the end of voting, with no campaigning, media interviews with candidates or posters allowed.