Candidates of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won Saturday’s by-elections for two vacant seats of the Shaviyani atoll council and one seat of the Alif Alif Mathiveri island council.
According to provisional results announced by the Elections Commission (EC) last night, MDP candidates Abdulla Athif and Firaq Ibrahim won the two atoll council seats of Shaviyani Milandhoo constituency with 1,038 votes and 977 votes respectively.
Both Athif and Firaq were elected to the atoll council in the February 2011 elections but were dismissed by a resolution for ostensibly not attending seven consecutive council meetings.
In the Milandhoo constituency, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) candidate Moosa Hussein Fulhu received 705 votes while Independent candidate Ahmed Rasheed got 619 votes.
Meanwhile in Alif Alif Mathiveri, MDP candidate Ismail Athif placed first with 253 votes followed by opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) candidate Moosa Hassan with 200 v0tes.
The island council seat had previously been held by the DRP. Yesterday’s win assures a majority of the five-member council to the ruling party.
The constituency of Alif Alif Mathiveri is represented in parliament by DRP MP Hussein Mohamed while the Shaviyani Milandhoo constituency is represented by MDP MP Ali Riza.
In separate statements yesterday, MDP President Dr Ibrahim Didi and Acting Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik congratulated the by-election winners and urged the councillors to “work as closely as possible with the government” to serve the public.
Official results are expected to be announced by the EC on Tuesday.
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The incumbents have the advantage of State funds to win elections.
The opposition would be well aware of this fact. Battling Nasheed in 2013 would require a huge effort against the power of taxpayers money and State resources.
Is it fair? Is it right? Nope. But it will get used anyway. So congratulations MDP.
tsk maldives is only country in south asia to have health isurance and it is one of the few in asia to have it . this credit sshould go to mdp government . oppositon has two tv stations buyers to them like dhitv and vtv dhifm and sunfm . constanly bringing opposion views in the hope of bringing this goverment down one fine day . the finest hour of 2013 will be ppm huge defeat to inconbent goverment
All one can say is lick your wounds.
@tony:
Maldives is one of the last countries in South Asia to have health insurance. However you may be right if what you meant is the our country is one of the first to introduce Universal Health Coverage in the region. With time, investment and proper coordination health services in the Maldives might improve and then Universal Health Coverage will start benefiting the common man.
However contrary to what the average MDP activist believes, there is little short-term political benefit in providing a non-contributory Universal Health Coverage scheme while services remain as they are. There are benefits, one has to agree, but not as profound neither as advantageous as the Nasheed government wishes.
The opposition has the advantage of this period of economic hardship which will only intensify in the coming days. We all know until the debt service period ends the incumbents will suffer a huge setback. Its a catch-22 with increased spending for political purposes threatening to drive consumer prices ever higher.
I fear Tony that it is the MDP which will have to carry out political acrobatics to win in 2013.