Wellington - Fiji military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama, who ousted the elected government 19 months ago is "protracting the rule he established at the barrel of a gun" in breaking a promise to hold fresh elections next year, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday. 

Clark rejected Bainimarama's assertion last week that he had never promised to hold elections before 2010, telling her weekly news conference, "That is not what he said to my face." 

She said Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2006, had told leaders of the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum at their summit in Tonga last year that he would go to the polls under Fiji's existing constitution before March. 

"I must say I wasn't terribly convinced by the assurances," Clark said, saying both commitments had been shattered by last week's statement that the deadline was "unachievable." 

"I find he said things which he now clearly had no intention of ever honouring," she said. 

Bainimarama said in a radio interview that his military regime was determined to reform an electoral system that favours indigenous Fijians over ethnic Indians, who account for about 37 per cent of the 932,000 population, before holding new elections. 

Clark said New Zealand would consult other members of the Pacific Islands Forum on the next step before leaders have their next annual meeting in Niue on August 19-21. 

She said the United Nations and the British Commonwealth had left it to the regional bloc to deal with the Fiji issue, adding, "I think the mood in the Forum would be to try to continue in a dialogue with Fiji as a member in trouble." 

But in a reference to Bainimarama's backdown on an election promise, Clark added, "It's very hard to help people who don't particularly want to be helped." 

Delegations from the EU and the Pacific Islands Forum went to Fiji in the last month to urge Bainimarama to stick to the March deadline. (dpa)