Additional reporting by Neil Merrett, Leah Malone, Ahmed Nazeer, Daniel Bosley, Ahmed Naish, Eleanor Johnstone, Mariyath Mohamed, Mohamed Naahee
Read Minivan News’ blogging of Saturday’s poll
Incumbent President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has been handed a resounding defeat in the first round of polls, with provisional results recording his ‘Forward with the nation’ coalition as receiving just 5.13 percent of the vote.
Waheed ran as an independent candidate due to controversy over whether his Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP) had the minimum 10,000 members needed for official recognition.
The incumbent stood in coalition with the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP).
Many of the DRP’s more than 21,000 members apparently declined to vote for the party, with the coalition receiving just 10,750 votes out of 209,495 polled.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) also suffered disappointment, painting almost every atoll yellow, but proving unable to achieve the 51 percent needed for the first round victory it had confidently predicted with cries of ‘Ehburun!’ (‘one round’).
With the vote split between three political adversaries, the MDP faced an uphill battle to achieve its goal, falling around 24 percent short of the 125,000 votes it claimed were pledged during its nationwide door-to-door campaign.
However, the MDP’s 95,244 votes represented a significant gain on its first round performance in 2008 of 44,293 votes (24.91 percent of the total vote in 2008).
The tightest race was that the for second place, with Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) candidate Abdulla Yameen at 25 percent – barely 1 percent ahead of rival pro-government candidate, resort tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.
Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek confirmed at a press conference held at 5:00am on Sunday ( September 8 ) that the commission will hold a run-off election on September 28, between Nasheed and Yameen.
However, the narrow margin separating Gasim and Yameen suggests the position of runner-up may be hotly contested.
A small group of Gasim supporters had gathered outside Dharubaruge early this morning in protest over what they claim were discrepancies between votes counted and eligible voters for several boxes. It was unclear if this data was taken directly from the elections commission, or from local media outlets – some of which reported erroneous figures throughout the day.
Thowfeek said the Commission’s complaints bureau was looking into those complaints that had been submitted, and would take necessary action where required.
The provisional results as of 5:00am on Sunday September 8 were:
- Gasim Ibrahim – 50,422 (24.07%)
- Mohamed Waheed – 10,750 (5.13%)
- Abdulla Yameen – 53,099 (25.35%)
- Mohamed Nasheed – 95,224 (45.45%)
Nasheed proved popular among resort workers with the MDP recording strong majorities in most resort ballot boxes.
On Bandos Island Resort, owned by Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen, provisional results showed Nasheed leading with 136 votes, Yameen in second place with 81 votes, Gasim third with 39 votes and President Waheed in fourth place with 8 votes.
In Irufushi Resort, owned by MP Ahmed ‘Sun Travel Shiyam, whose Maldivian Development Alliance party is in coalition with the PPM, Nasheed won 59 votes to Yameen’s 38 votes and Gasim at third place with 6 votes and Waheed at fourth with 1 vote.
In Kuredhu Island Resort, owned by the government-aligned Champa family, Nasheed led with 50 votes, Yameen in second place with 33 votes, Gasim third with 14 votes and Waheed fourth with 1 vote.
Provisional results also showed former President Nasheed leading in overseas ballot boxes, suggesting strong support among the diaspora and students. Nasheed has 504 votes in Malaysia with Yameen in second place with 190, Gasim at 154, Waheed at 84 and 9 invalid votes.
In Singapore, Nasheed secured the most votes with 67, and Yameen at second place with 28 votes, Gasim third with 19 votes and Waheed fourth with 14 votes.
Voting peaceful
Voting took place peacefully throughout the day, with large numbers of voters lining up early due to fears concerns the polls would face disruption later in the day.
These appeared largely unfounded and polling closed at 4:00pm with only minor disruptions reported.
Elections Commissioner (EC) Fuwad Thowfeek acknowledged some difficulties in the morning with large numbers of people lining up to cast their ballots.
“We sent our officials to speed up the polling process in stations that had been identified as slow,” he said at a press conference today.
Complaints regarding voting received by the EC included some political parties continuing to campaign and photographs of some ballots taken illegally and circulated on social media.
239,593 people were eligible to vote, a 15 percent increase on the first election in 2008. Voter turnout was confirmed at 88.44 percent.
Vote counting
Vote counting proceeded smoothly at the beginning of the process, although blow-by-blow information was not always easy to obtain, with glacial official EC updates online, and otherwise very informative local media infographics in some cases reporting 102 percent voter turnout for much of the day.
The initial exit poll suggested over 200,000 people have voted, said Vice President of the Elections Commission Ahmed Fayaz, a turnout of over 83 percent.
Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek said there were no major problems, although be acknowledged the commission had trouble closing two ballot boxes.
Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef advised Minivan News that EC officials at Majeedhiya School requested police presence at the polling station, but said officers did not remove the ballot box. “The EC removed the box in a vehicle, not police,” stated Haneef.
“What happened with the ballot box at Majeediyya School was dissent arising between some election officials and representatives from a candidate,” Thowfeek stated. “Some people questioned the check marks on ballot papers, and had disagreed over whether some marks are to be counted as valid votes.”
Transparency Maldives Communications Manager Aiman Rasheed said in 14.5 percent of ballot boxes where controversy occurred during counting, these would not have impacted the overall outcome of the first placed candidate.
“The incidents that have happened on election day will not have a material impact on the outcome of the election,” he said.
TM confidently called Nasheed’s progression to the second round, but could not call the runner up due to a margin of error larger than the difference between the vote counts of Yameen and Gasim.
According to Transparency’s statement:
- 99.5 percent of polling stations had closed by 5:00pm
- Only 0.2 percent of voters complained that their names were not on the voter registry, and 0.05 percent complained that they were unable to vote at polling stations
- Voting was temporarily halted at 3.8 percent of polling stations, half of these interventions by the presiding officer. The remainder involved “an unruly voter or two, or an enthusiastic political party member”.
- 1.4 percent had instances of violence, mostly minor, and election was otherwise largely peaceful
- Police entered 18.8 percent of polling stations, 80 percent of the time at the invitation of the presiding officer
- Candidates were well represented at polling stations – Gasim 73.7 percent, Waheed 29.6 percent, Yameen 74.2 percent, Nasheed 91.5 percent
- Counting concluded without controversy at 85 percent of all polling stations, and only 0.22 percent of ballot papers were disputed by observers/candidates
- 82.6 percent of polling stations reported assisted votes
Reactions
President Waheed’s Senior Advisor Teresa Wells said the incumbent would not be releasing an immediate statement, with a comment on his future plans ahead of a run off vote expected to be released on Sunday.
DRP Parliamentary Group Leader, Dr Abdulla Mausoom, this evening said the party would be “considering its options” ahead of the second round after the coalition’s poor polling.
The party earlier this year ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with the PPM, however Dr Mausoom told Minivan News this evening that he did not wish to comment on whether this stance would force the DRP into an alliance with the MDP in a run-off vote on September 28.
Dr Mausoom welcomed what he said he been a “beautiful” election, praising authorities including the Elections Commission for their efforts.
“Although there were some reservations, Maldivians have held a free and fair election, with Dr Waheed also expressing his confidence for the EC. This was great to see,” he said.
MDP Youth Wing Leader Shauna Aminath said “with only five percent of the vote, it only confirms that Waheed is an un-elected coup-installed puppet.”
Other elements of the MDP appeared disappointed after failing to achieve a first round win. MDP Spokesperson and Henveiru South MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor acknowledged during the counting that “we are not performing as expected – the race is very close.”
Senior MDP figure and former Minister for Housing and Environment, Mohamed Aslam, told Minivan News during the later stages of counting that the MDP was “preparing for a second round”.
” We didn’t get what we wanted from Male’,” he said, outside the Dharubaruge convention centre.
He anticipated that the MDP would face the PPM in the second round, saying that the party was not concerned about Gasim: “Yameen is not an idiot, Gasim is an idiot.”
He noted that the turnout was lower than expected, and anticipated even lower figures for the second round.
Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MP Ahmed Nihan confirmed that senior officials from the party including presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen and his running meet Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed were presently meeting in Male’ to discuss second round plans.
MP Nihan said that the party would now look to meet with potential allies, and confirmed that every other candidate who stood in today’s election against Nasheed would be invited “to be on-board” in the run-off vote.
“It is quite clear we will be facing the MDP in the second round,” he said.
Nihan added that he expected for the PPM to make a statement on its support for the second round vote “sooner rather than later”, once talks were completed.
Jumhoree Party (JP) Spokesperson Moosa Ramiz said any possible decision on how the party contests the second round would be expected today.
“We are still waiting at the moment,” he said, adding that discussions need to be held between JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim and the party’s council before finalising any possible alliance.
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As long as the kaafaru athiest baigandu are with MDP, they will loose. Remember when Aaniyaa wrote a piece in Minivan mocking Islam? That was when Sheikh Fareed left.
الحمد لله
All the thanks be to Almighty allah! He showed the correct leader to picture the country by the majority of Maldivian, even though constitutional figure was not met from "Eh Burun" (first round).
Dear MDP and all supported members of beloved Maldivian! Please rejoice hand to hand with MDP candidate President Nasheed as well as their marvelous developing plan. I hope our citizens neither need to return 30 years slow motion governing or copied governing from JP and else.
Please be strong for the second round to get success for MDP candidate President Nasheed as well as Dr. Mustapha Luthufee.
I would like to advise all the failures too, no need to feel shy, please just give your generous hand and support to MDP for the betterment of our beloved country. Please be tolerate for a 5 year round. If it is not meeting our needs, we are the people who can bring changes by the vote!
May almighty Allah, fulfill our needs on the hand of Mr. Nasheed and his Running Mate Dr. Mustapha Luthufee.
Yes, it's a disappointment for MDP. Gasim seems to have stolen a lot of potential votes away from them, which clearly was his aim in the first place.
So, would Gasim form a coalition with Yameen? That'd mean Hassan Saeed going full circle and siding with the devil! Best option for Gasim voters in that scenario would be to jump ship and go with the MDP!
The second round will be a piece of cake.
Qasim spending millions to buy votes...LOL... failed miserably.
Shshshshsh...Qasim bachcha, dont cry. We dont want you as a president, because you are stupid, incoherent and uneducated. But we still would like your money!:)
Yamin will lose the second round despite the heavy public-coaxing Maumoon will try.
There will be a significant amount of flippers towards Anni now!
Anni : You did it!!! Just be Presidential, for and all of the people of Maldives.
The only way for Yameen to win is to join with Gasim. No more face saving - just join forces and do it.
After wining, you both can grab as much money and ASAP before being toppled by the MDP protest!
A way to appeal to voters of wahid; gasim without resorting to coalition inefficiency may be the promotion of the need of a workable government.
MDP has to think of some way to appeal to supporters of Gasim and Waheed. Aslam's remark that gasim is an idiot may cost mdp the second round. Can it be rectified?
Please make Maldives genuinely safe for all, whoever comes into power.
Ehburun failed.
the result had shown that the majority of Maldivian never want Nasheed to be back in power and it was made loud and clear by the people.
0n 28th Sept. again you will see that Nasheed gets a punch on his face again by telling no to Fili Findi Nasheed.
although president waheed got only 5% of the vote, it does not mean he was not admired by many people. i myself admired him, and wanted to vote him. i voted for another candidate. if it was only waheed and nasheed, people could have seen waheed getting more than nasheed even.
“Yameen is not an idiot, Gasim is an idiot.” , insightful quote from former Minister Aslam
Also very balanced reporting from Minivian. Thanks
...and Waheed. RIP
MDP 20% up from 2008 just proves that Anni should have never been forced to resign. Now the choice is clear, do we want the old brutal dictator back, or true democracy.
Just checking the world record books, we think this is the worst performance of an incumbent President in all time. What a failure Waheed is. Does he care with a massive Gayoom size pension and all the perks. The country should stop him from recieveing this, he does not deserve it.
Qasim and Adaalath must be cursed!
Or may be just Adaalath? Stay away from the bunch
http://times.mv/view/16241
Man tries to commit suicide in Maldives today?
Could it be Waheed? Hope not
I reallly don't know what happened to Waheed. He only got less than 6% and he is now the president of this country. What a shame!
All praises are to Allah SWA, the All Mighty!
@Mohamed Hussain on Sun, 8th Sep 2013 6:51 AM.
True!
Indication have been given! And it is up to peoples to take it!
And now is the time for MDP, and its supporters to be more confident than ever they were, for the first round.
I am quiet confident that MDP would have bagged in the 125,000 votes if not for those that got dragged away in the wake of petty wants!
MDP supporters, your candidate already got the highest votes, so why need to bash and ridicule people? I'm so sorry, 'Ehburun' didn't happen. Or else you might have started partying loud last night, right? One of the main reasons why MDP is leading is that most of the people want freedom of religion. That is fine but please, guard your mouth. Most of MDP youths especially the girls are very liberated. Are these the kind of women you will look up to and vote for in the future? First sign that a candidate is deserving of your vote is to look on how they treat their family first. If they cannot take care of a family they cannot take care of a nation.
@vote wisely
Can you provide me with a source which says that most of the MDP supporters want freedom of religion?
@Wives and Concubines: Come on. It's very obvious. Even if all of them are not vocal about it, actions speak louder than words. And they hate Adhaalath. Of course no one will admit it because Maldives must be a Muslim country.
@vote wisely did you pull that religious freedom statistic out of your ass?
@Husham: Oh please, don't pretend to be deaf and blind 🙂
@Husham: Oh, and I forgot to say that it's a shame GMR funded the entire MDP campaign while gang rapes are rampant in India right now. They must help to solve the various problems of India before helping the Maldives. Of course they did because Nasheed promised that GMR will be back when he comes to power, but 'Ehburun' failed. Also, don't you know that India claims to be the biggest democracy in the world? That's why gang rapes are rampant, because "gang rape is democracy in action".
@vote wisely
Freedom of religion is guaranteed in Islam. As your constitution goes against Islamic Tenets, I consider it null and void. You wannabe-pious, self-righteous fornicators, alcohol drinkers and thieves are no different from the jahil Qureysh who tried to kill Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
@vote wisely: so hating the adhaalath party, a party of corrupt priests and criminal kaahinun is 'anti-islamic'?
Shame on you.
@vote wisely: And last, but not least, I know you're paid well to label anyone you dont like 'laadheenee'. So stop pulling statistics out of where the sun doesn't shine.
I despise Adhaalath, but I certainly do not want freedom of religion in the Maldives. That will never work. In any case what has Adhaalath got to do with it? They are wannabee power hungry zealots who do not even have an ounce of credibility. No one gives a rats arse about Adhaalath.
There are worthy scholars of Islam everywhere in the Maldives, in all walks of life. They are dignified and do not need shout and slander in the name of Islam. A true scholar engages his brain first and mouth follows much much later.
Anyway, MDP and Nasheed have clearly shown that they are THE political force to be reckoned with. All others are cowering in fear. Whatever "coalition" they come up won't last a day. Do marriages of convenience last or have any meaning?
Gasim's supporters need to think of the party that can deliver what their leader aspired to deliver or promised to deliver. Is that Yameen or Nasheed? It's an easy choice: Yameen and his brother had 30 years to server the people, but they served themselves!
So, fellow Maldivians, choose democracy and not autocracy.
@Vote wisely,
"Hate Adhaalath" does not mean wanting "religion freedom", but rather people hate "extreme fundamentalism".
Most people want a safe/peaceful nation, their daughter able to go to school and walk safely on the street, they want a government that will bring prosperity to the country especially the middle income group not only the "rich". Like it or not, no party is "clean" and all are corrupt. Now, they need to chose "the lesser of two evils".
If MDP tries to join hand with Adhaalath, there will be serious consequences. I hope Anni has learn his lesson from the past.
Whoever win, do remember to think for your countrymen not only your own pocket!
@Mohamed,
I also admired president Waheed in the past. However, when he turned his back on MDP and his brothers - I changed my mind.
Everyone knew that he will not win long before the election. He doesn't have passion for anything. At least Gasim and Yameen have passion for his businesses and money. If they have the same passion for the country - Maldives will prosperous beyond you and I can ever imagine - the true paradise on earth and not just a sinking paradise.
@Maldivian Man: I know you're from the Hepatitis team but you don't have a right to say that I'm paid well because I am not even paid a single laari. That's the problem with you yellow people. You always jump into conclusions and easily judge and criticize others. For the record, I'm also not claiming to be self-righteous. No one is.
@"vote wisely"
See? You're the one assuming things and making up tales - I'm not even a member of the MDP.
Now please tell your paymasters in the adhaalath party to go back to the cesspits and caves of afghanistan where they belong. Maybe a bunker buster might come visit, hmm?
Adhaalath party ge sharuthu thah haama kohfi
1) Education Ministry
2) Islmic Ministry
3) Housing Ministry '
4) Sarukaru Companies ge 20%
Now that the distractions have slipped away, everyone has to show their true colours. There is no fudging the issue and the democratic choice becomes clearer: forwards or backwards? Freedom or torture? (look at track records for they exist thanks mainly to the internet) Freedom from fear - or brutality? We all know what the consequences of our actions are going to be when we cast this vote. We need to do so responsibly. We will all be affected, we are a small country. Remember the 5 years that went on to another 5 and so ..onto 30. Talking of which @Ali, we need to add that that passion for money and business from our well known tycoons did not translate into passion for the country - despite winning 6 rounds of elections (talk about giving folk a chance), moreover at a time when the coffers were full to overflowing here and all over the world. So that kind of transformation into giving back is a mirage in lean times..ie impossible. Everyone: A moment can be thrown away - or it can be seized. The choice is yours. Then be prepared to live with it. That includes your conscience of course. You all have one: suggest you find it..ideally before Sept 28.
Maldivians need a stable patriot government to address the current grievances of all Maldivians.
I find it odd - the greed of mankind. People only like you for as long as they perceive they can get what they want from you. Or for as long as they perceive you are who they want you to be. But I like people for all of their changing surprises, the thoughts in their heads, the warmth that changes to cold and the cold that changes to warmth... for being human. The rawness of being human delights me. Pink Power!!! 🙂
Pfft. Dont fool yourself. You PPM boys dont even consider us to be human. You consider us to be expendable resources.
@Maldivian Man: Now I know you're with Anni so Pffft for you also. Sorry, I don't support any party but between Nasheed and Yameen, I go for the last. Just respect mine and I will respect yours. May the best man win. Cheers! and Ciao!
"I will respect yours"
You forgot to do this. So, no, no one's gonna respect you.
Seriously, your candidate doesn't respect us. Why should we vote for him?