SUVA -- Fiji's government said Friday it would appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn rulings requiring it to share power with the ousted Fiji Labour Party (FLP). FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry was Fiji's first ethnic-Indian Prime Minister until a racially charged coup in May 2000 and was eventually replaced in an election last year by Laisenia Qarase. Prime Minister Qarase said the appeal to the Supreme Court would seek to clarify the government's constitutional standing after lower court rulings had ordered power-sharing with the FLP, AFP reported. "It is not our intention to prolong the issue but it is important we reach the highest court of the land for clarification," he told Parliament. "But in provisions of the same constitution, FLP can simply opt to be opposition," Qarase said. "If Chaudhry did that, he would be doing great service to the community." In the election, which followed a period of martial rule, Qarase's Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua Party won 32 of the 71 seats in Parliament. The FLP won 27 seats and under Fiji's constitution, Chaudhry's party was entitled to a place in Cabinet proportionate to its numbers in the House, or eight of the 20 seats. To the strong disapproval of the opposition, attorney-general Qoriniasi Bale said the government had missed the court schedule for June and would have to wait until later in the year for the Supreme Court hearing. "It is important to understand that the government has a right to appeal like any other citizen of Fiji. That right includes a right to appeal to the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court," Bale told MPs. "By exercising this right, the government is not and cannot be taken to be seeking to delay the eventual political outcome of these court proceedings." Qarase and Chaudhry blamed each other for the continuing delay in the legal battle, which has unsettled Fiji's efforts to move on from the traumatic events of two years ago. Chaudhry labelled Bale's reasoning for the delay "nonsense" but said the FLP would stay patient. "We want and are waiting for the case to come up as soon as possible, we are cooperating. We've had enough of the AG's reasoning but we have the patience, we do not worry," Chaudhry said. Qarase said he was overjoyed that Chaudhry had "Finally accepted that we can appeal, that we have the right to appeal".