Great Maldivian electoral circus Party

Maldivian Democratic Party Progressive Party of Maldives Jumhooree Party

leaders
Mohamed Nasheed Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom Qasim Ibrahim

president candidate
Mohamed Nasheed Abdulla Yameen Qasim Ibrahim

Present President: Mohd.

aheed !asan

Background:
Mohd. Nasheed became the first elected "resident of Maldives in #$$% after &$ years of autocratic rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom. ho 'as controversially su""orted by india too. (ut during Nasheed reign he 'as unable to ta)e all "olitical "arties along 'ith him and started ta)ing decisions single handily. !e too) many controversial decisions. *ne of them 'as to sac) and arrest chief +ustice of ,riminal court. it led to "rotests- even "olice 'as 'ith "rotestors. All the state a""aratus 'ent against him and he 'as forced to resign on #$.#. /he vice "resident Mohd aheed 'as s'orn in as "resident. /o get a better gri" on it 0ead htt"122mrunal.org2#$.#2.#2di"lomacy3maldives3cou"3reasons3 im"lications3nasheed3gmr.html

Present Scenario:
/he "resent government4s term is ending on ..th November #$.& and the "resident cannot continue after that as "er the constitution of Maldives. 5o election is the only 'ay for'ard.

Facts:
Nasheed is still the most "o"ular leader of Maldives and 'hen he 'as "rosecuted in court 6for doing above7 he further garnered su""ort of general "ublic of Maldives and India in s"ecific. 5o due to this he 'as not banned from contesting elections by su"reme court of Maldives.

Lets enter the circus now:

First Phase of First elections Nasheed of the MDP got 89.89 "ercent votes Abdulla Yameen of the PPM 6 Gayoom4s "arty7 'ith #9.&9 "ercent Ga:im Ibrahim of Jumhooree "arty 'ith #8.$; ,urrent "resident aheed got 9..& "ercent

/o be A "resident in Maldives you need to 'in 9$<=. votes and no one did so..

/herefore ne>t round 'as inevitable but it 'as to be decided bet'een to" # contenders Nasheed and Yameen

Poor looser gasim I rahim: /he Jumhooree "arty filed a case in the !igh ,ourt alleging rigging of the votes. /hey alleged that there 'ere variations bet'een the voters list and votes "olled in various booths- votes being "olled by voters 'ho had no residential addresses- the names of many deceased 'ere found in the list-re"etition of some names in the lists etc. /he Jumhooree "arty filed another case in the 5u"reme ,ourt see)ing an in+unction to delay the second round of voting. 5ur"risingly- the PPM of Gayoom and Yameen also su""orted the Jumhooree in the 5u"reme ,ourt. /he case filed by &rd candidate Qasim Ibrahim is against the chances of # nd candidate4s chances 6Yameen7 to go into run off for "residential seat. 5till & rd su""orted #nd. !Y? (igger sur"rise 'as that the 5tate Attorney General 'ho should have remained neutral- intervened on behalf of the Jumhooree "arty in the court. Most 'orrying- from my "oint of vie' is that most of the Islamic NG*s along 'ith the Adhaalath "arty have called for a "rotest against the @lection ,ommission alleging that the first round of "residential elections 'as rigged

Supreme !ourt"s decision:

.. It ordered that electoral lists may be given to !igh ,ourt for scrutiny. #. It also ordered an indefinite "ost"onement of the run off. &. 0ecounting of 8A$ bo>es 'ill ta)e many days and the @, said that it is im"ossible to conduct the second round on the #%th *ctober as scheduled. 8. Pronounced that even if elections are not concluded before ..th November the "resent Govt. ,ontinues in office. 9. Directed @, to verify the electoral lists again 'ith finger "rints of voters and dually signed by all "resident candidates..

#etaliation:
Mean'hile Nasheed- Indian Govt and 'estern observers including @B- BN C B5A all cried foul against 5,4s Judgement- but couldn4t do more than li" service. hen Jumhooree "arty filed caseD there 'as a fear that the #nd round of elections may2'ill be derailed. /herefore Ma+lis 6"arliament of Maldives7 dominated by MDP members "assed a resolution calling for the state institutions to "roceed 'ith the elections. during the "assage of this resolution- there 'as un"recedented violence 'ithin the Ma+lis 'ith the s"ea)er4s mi)e being destroyed and members assaulted 6isn4t it circus no'7

*n the other hand @lection ,ommission tried to "roceed 'ith the arrangements for the #nd round of elections as mandated by constitution- 'hile the 5u"reme ,ourt too) the unusual "osition that it can even change the constitution. /he 5u"reme ,ourt had a midnight meeting on #Eth 5e"tember calling on the Police and the military to enforce the in+unction order and halt all "re"arations for the conduct of the elections. *n #;th 5e"tember- the Police did 'hatever 'as said by 5,.

Flawed $udgement of S!:

.. & +udges out of 8 annulled the elections on the basis of a confidential re"ort not sho'n to even defendant. #. . +udge out of & 'ho annulled elections is facing se>ual crime charges in 5ri lan)a.

Basis:
a re"ort filed by "olice 'hich 'as later revealed to "ublic- sho'ed 9E#& out of #..%9$ voters 'ith irregularities. i.e #.9< /he brea)u" of 9E#& irregularities "ointed out is as follo's. !ategory %: ; minors had voted ;;& "eo"le 'hose names 'ere not in the list had voted. ##9 'ho voted did not have the Fnational identity card4 had voted. .% votes 'ere cast against the names of deceased "ersons. & "eo"le have voted t'ice. !ategory &: %.A "eo"le 'ho voted had discre"ancies in the identity card. A9# had discre"ancies in their names #%&$ "eo"le had irregularities in their "ermanent address. And most laughable 'ere last three 6in red7. Gol::: Most controversial 'as that this re"ort 'as not sho'n even to the defendant4s la'yer before annulling elections. It is clear that category # ty"es of voters are not frauds these are +ust ty"ing mista)es and not fraudulent votings. 6Imagine if this has to ha""en in India 'here almost all voter IDs have s"elling mista)es7

Also difference bet'een .st and #rd candidate is 'ay more than 9E#&.

First Phase of second elections

*n .Ath of November the date decided by 5, for fresh first round of elections Police came to the "icture and sto""ed @, to go on as scheduled. Police says that some electoral lists 'ere not signed by all candidates and it is against the verdict of 5,. My Huestions here is I'ho the hell is "olice to inter"ret 5, +udgements and ta)ing a 5uo Motu cogni:ance and acting accordinglyJ 0idiculously t'o candidates named Qasim Ibrahim and Abdulla Yameen 'ent underground. No' ho' can @, search out them and get the lists signed by them. And 'hen they came out they 'ent straight to 5, and as)ed to verify all finger "rints. /his could ta)e at least E months. Actually it 'as all a "art of larger "lan to delay elections- create constitutional vacuum and )ee" nasheed a'ay from "o'er. Krom this "icture it is clear that no one really understands 'ho is really in "o'er in Maldives aheed Police *r 5u"reme ,ourt

#easons of doing so:

Jumhooree Party candidate Qasim Ibrahim is considered as one of the most influential figures of Maldivian +udicial services so he used all his strength to )ee" Nasheed a'ay. It is alleged that Nasheed is anti Islamic. (ut truth is that he is a man 'ith "rogressive mind and do not 'ant religious fundamentalism to "o" out its head it Muslim nation Maldives. Muslim clerics of Maldives 'ho are against the MDP 'ant to ma)e maldive an Islamic state 'ith sharia as its la'- to 'hich nasheed is o""sosing because it as against the economc interest f Maldives as its economy is driven by tourism sector and under such restrictive environment maldive could definitely loose aits foreign tourists. PPM even tried in 5, to debar Nasheed from contesting elections on the grounds of Ioutright criticism of Islam and im"osing Islamic 5hariaJ but failed to do under international "ressure. /ried to frustrate the MDP su""orters and 'aited for them to resort to violence. If they 'ould have done so then state a""aratus 'ould have a got an e>cuse to "ut Nasheed behind (ars and )ee" him a'ay from elections. It 'as a nice "loy of Ga' and order situation 'hich they "lanned to sell to 'estern observers and India.

It is alleged that both Abdulla Yameen and Qasim Ibrahim 'ere involved in ma+or scams so they fear that they could be "rosecuted if Nasheed comes to "o'er.

'nother Step y M'(LIS:

No' to avert any constitutional Lacuum the Ma+lis "assed the resolution that if "resident is not elected by the end of ..th nov the s"ea)er of ma+lis 6'ho belongs to MDP7 'ill lead the interim govt. ith this resolution I*""osition ) "lan "ar "ani fir gayaJ and they all fell in line- "resident 'aheed for the first time announced that he does not 'ant to continue beyond ..th nov and he 'ill resign from his "ost. (oth the o""osition leaders lost all their "loys. Kinal 0un off After first round of 5econd elections 6Ath November7 concluded Nasheed emerged 'ith +ust short of ma+ority 'ith 8;< votes trailing him 'as Abdullah Yameen 'ith &$< of votes. Poor GMQasim Ibrahim had it on his face. /he @lections ,ommission had earlier scheduled a runoff on November .E- but brought it for'ard to November .$ to avoid a constitutional crisis. (ut again /he 5u"reme Lillain ,ourt of Maldives came into the "icture and ruled that the consecutive days of elections 'ould be im"ractical- and set November .E for the runoff. After this delay B5- @B- India and BN 'o)e u" from their slumber and o"enly 'arned and criticised Maldivian 5, and President aheed 'ho 'ere acting as im"ediments for elections. President aheed 5nubbed Ma+lis and e>tended his reign to E more days until the ne>t candidate is elected and attracted fla) from all international observers.

#eason of this delay: it 'as alleged that gayoom and Gasim Ibrahim "atched u" and 'anted to convert their collective votes in favour of Yameen 6+ust to )ee" nasheed out of "o'er7. /o do it they needed some time. Gayom "romised G. Ibrahim .2&rd of a""ointments in govt. !e as)ed his su""orters and voters to vote in favour of Yameen. )hat is 'hy 5, delayed run off to .Eth 6Gasim Ibrahim has nice lin)s in 5, as he 'as an influential member of Judicial 5ervices7. *+,: As you all )no' that some great "erson has said in a boring movie that Ihamari zindgi main bhi hamari hindi filmo ki tarah end main sab theek thaak ho jata haiJ but Maldives didn4t follo' the above dictum and ultimately nasheed lost by a small margin and yameen 'on. Nasheed instead of moving to 5, for stay gracefully acce"ted his defeat and "ledged to 'or) 'ith "resident as a res"onsible o""osition.

Indian stand: Krom very beginning i.e. the cou" against Nasheed India )e"t out of this mess citing the reasons that the democracy of Maldives is still immature and it needed some time to get consolidated- 'hich a""ears to me as failure of India4s foreign "olicy. India must have interfered to save Nasheed 'ho is a "ro Indian leader and save guarded its o'n interests in Indian *cean- 'hereas the ne>t "resident aheed 'as "laying in ,hinese hands and ousted GM0. Yameen on his oath "romised to ma)e closer ties 'ith Arab nations- china also 'ooed them 'ith 9$bn dollar aid +ust after the election concluded. (ut here is the t'ist- soon after Yameen 'inning his election vented his anger and frustration against @B but did not utter a 'ord against India- +ust because the level of interference 'as very less from Indian side. /herefore our foreign "olicy of wait and watch to see that 'ho emerges as clear choice of "ublic and then engage 'ith him 'as a -success. No' Yameen is the choice of ma+ority and he is not against India by any means so If India needs to have a stronger foot hold then she must 'or) closely 'ith both Yameen and Nasheed. ,ircus ends here and no' concentrate on mains. (est of luc). 5ource1 All articles tagged 'ith Maldives in South asia analysis group 65AAG7 and the hindu.
Aditya 5angotra