The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won yesterday’s by-elections for a Faafu Bilendhoo atoll council seat and Alif Alif Himandhoo island council seat while the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) won the mid-Fuvahmulah atoll council seat.
Provisional results announced by the Elections Commission (EC) reflect party strength and margin of victory for the ruling party and opposition in the February 2011 local council elections.
In the island of Himandhoo in Alif Alif atoll – where the MDP won four out of five island council seats in February – MDP candidate Shimal Ibrahim won with 195 votes (63 percent) against independent candidate Afrah Adil who received 116 votes (37 percent).
For the vacant Bilendhoo constituency atoll council seat, MDP candidate Ibrahim Naeem came out on top with 674 votes (53 percent) against Jumhooree Party contender Mohamed Musthafa, placed second with 539 votes (42 percent).
In the February elections, the ruling party won all three atoll council seats from the Bilendhoo constituency.
Meanwhile in the mid-Fuvahmulah constituency, Abdulla Mohamed Didi – who ran as an Independent as PPM had not completed the registration process – won with 861 votes (52 percent) to the 750 votes (46 percent) for the MDP candidate, Mohamed Abdulla Didi.
Notably, the candidate fielded by the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Mohamed Ali, received only 19 votes.
In February, the two atoll council seats from the mid-Fuvahmulah constituency was won by DRP candidate Ali Faraz with 860 votes and MDP candidate Hassan Saeed with 836 votes. Yesterday’s winner, Abdulla Mohamed, contested on a DRP ticket and was placed third with 785 votes.
In May 2009, the parliament seat of the mid-Fuvahmulah constituency was won by MDP MP Shifaq Mufeed with 754 votes.
The winner of the MDP primary for the mid-Fuvahmulah Atoll council seat was meanwhile not on the ballot after failing to submit an ID card original by the October 16 deadline.
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I believe the islands name is Bileiydhoo not Bilendhoo.
I do not think you need a degree in etymology if you are Maldivian to figure out that the island-name refers to Bileiy or Betel leaf. Bilen, on the other hand means nothing in Divehi. Hate to gripe but just struck me as a foolish typo.
So what your article is basically saying is that a seat formerly held by the ruling party has gone to the opposition now. So good old Histo would need a lot of campaigning to retain his seat in Parliament.
Also, public support for an opposition is growing. That means the current government is highly unpopular.
For the Sonu Sivdasenas and Edward Nortons of the world, this unpopularity is NOT due to a particular mind-set favoring an ancien regime. Nasheed is losing favor among the people due to his complete incapability to steer a government. Granted his government is beset by economic woes and an active opposition in comparison to Qayyooms. However most of the persons opposed to the MDP government are neither;
a) supporters of Qayyoom,
b) those who benefited from the old regime OR
c) religious extremists.
The plain fact is that Nasheed has failed and constantly fails to deliver. Unless he cleans up his act, keeping his regime in power with your money and political strength will only last so long.
Obviously the fact that making an airport and sending few government minsters for the campaign could not win the seat for MDP at Fuahmulah means Maldivians are not fools.
To be precise, Nasheed has failed bitterly due to his incapability.
tsk tsk, could not agree with you more. almost everyone I know who voted for a change were not hardcore MDP or DRP members, and they are all frustrated by the betrayal of P.Nasheed now.
evves ikhlaas therikameh neiy, even MDP pple on the islands know this, hus vai vaahaka dhakkaafa evves concrete ehcheh liumakun nudhey kamah vanee......
nothing has changed much, in 35 years, just the faces