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The tumultuous general election in Fiji was declared deadlocked on Sunday, with two rival ex-coup leaders failing to win a clear majority of seats in parliament.

Incumbent Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama's Fiji First party and a coalition led by Sitiveni Rabuka were both projected to secure 26 seats in the 55-seat legislature, according to a Fijian Election Office tally posted online.

The next prime minister and government will most likely be determined by party vote trading and a protracted negotiation process.

The election is significant beyond Fiji because Bainimarama has maintained close ties with Beijing, while Rabuka has expressed a desire to loosen Fiji's ties with China.

Fiji has been upended by four coups in the last 35 years, and many people on the streets of Suva had hoped in vain for a peaceful election.

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After the polls closed on Wednesday, opposition leader and former rugby international Rabuka claimed "anomalies" in the count and requested intervention from the country's powerful military.

Detectives then summoned him for questioning. 

The two frontrunners are already courting the Social Democratic party, which controls three seats and the balance of power in the Senate.

It is led by businessman Viliame Gavoka, who was arrested in 2010 for sending emails to tourism operators about a Fijian pastor who falsely predicted a tsunami.

Some of the Social Democratic Party's key policies include indigenous Fijians' right to land and free tertiary education.

When AFP visited the campaign headquarters on Sunday morning, a Social Democratic official said the party was in talks with Bainimarama's Fiji First party.

Rabuka's People's Alliance began talks late Saturday night, with a major sticking point being whether Rabuka would be prime minister.

Gavoka has previously clashed with Bainimarama, but he has a particularly strained relationship with Rabuka, the Social Democrats' new leader.