Fijians are set to receive political certainty ahead of Christmas after more than a week of turmoil following the election.

Parliament is set to reconvene on Christmas Eve to vote on a new prime minister, with People’s Alliance Party leader Sitiveni Rabuka solidifying his numbers in a tripartite coalition.

The Social Democratic Liberal Party, which holds the balance of power, reaffirmed its decision to side with the coalition over the FijiFirst government on Friday.

The party’s management board had to reconvene and vote a second time this week after non-current members voted in the first ballot.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has so far refused to concede the election, with his attorney-general saying the cabinet remained in power until a new prime minister was voted in by parliament.

Bainimarama and the police commissioner had seized on reports of stonings against minority Indian Fijians to bring in the army to assist in maintaining law and order in the coup-marred nation.

Little details of the attacks have been revealed.

Opposition parties have cast doubt about the severity of the reports, with National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad saying the reports were exaggerated.

He said Fijians were united and behind the new government, with there being a sense of excitement and exuberance in the community.

“We want to create a new style of government,” said the man who had criticised Bainimarama for being dictatorial.

“Where we will have dialogues, where we will be consulting, where there will be no vindictiveness.

“We are going to unite the people of this country.”

Indo-Fijians are using the hashtag FijiIsUnited, writing on social media, “I fall in the minority group in Fiji and I have felt completely safe in the lead up to elections, during elections and post-elections”.

Tensions between Indigenous Fijians – about 60 per cent of the population – and Indo-Fijians, the descendants of indentured Indian labourers who make up about one-third, have marred politics.

This article was made possible through the Melbourne Press Club’s Michael Gordon Journalism Fellowship Program.