Author: Minivan News

Why it is important for Male that it sticks to the new poll deadline: Economic Times

“The Maldives, under immense international pressure led by India, has decided to hold a fresh round of presidential elections in November. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” writes Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury for India’s Economic Times newspaper.

“The island nation has a history of state interventions to postpone poll, and one must wait to conclude that the Mohamed Waheed government believes in democracy.”

“A smooth transition of power next month is essential for regional stability — and Indian concerns are relevant. India had even sent five observers to oversee the elections last Saturday. But they returned empty-handed after the police intervened to stop polling.”

“India, with huge stakes in the Maldives, has so far handled the crisis well. Initially it tried to convince the parties to hold elections as scheduled, then Delhi reached out to global powers to put diplomatic pressure on Waheed. Besides UNSC members, India, in a clever strategy, moved countries that are close to the Maldives — Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE and Malaysia.

Unlike some Western powers, Delhi was careful not to use intimidation or force to ensure polls in the name of democracy. Such interference would have boomeranged and strengthened the anti-India lobby in the Maldives. The idea is to have a democratic and stable Maldives where ballot, not bullet, is supreme,” concludes Chaudhury.

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Majlis accepts bill to amend disparities in divorce settlements

The people’s Majlis has accepted a bill seeking to amend the distribution of wealth following divorce, local media has reported.

The bill – introduces by Progressive Party of Maldives MP Ahmed Mahlouf – seeks to provide stricter guidelines to judges when deciding on divorce settlements.

Sun Online reported Mahlouf as saying that the bill would improve the terms for women by distributing wealth more evenly, in line with his party’s election manifesto’s promises to improve women’s rights.

On the subject of women’s rights, the manifesto proposes subsidized childcare system, allowing women to work from home through the internet, and connecting them to employers.

Gender quotas in the political arena and leadership skills courses for girls are also included, with the intention of equalising the workplace gender balance.

The bill was admitted after securing a narrow majority of MPs present at today’s session.

In 2012, 4660 people got married, while the same year nearly half that many people got divorced. Its estimated that every second marriage in the Maldives ends in divorce.

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Maldives Monetary Authority introduces new 100 rufiyaa note

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has introduced a new 100 rufiyaa bank note into circulation today (October 22).

The upgraded print on the new note contains four new distinctive features, according to the MMA.  The corner water mark now consists of digital lines and appears at each corner. An additional bright watermark highlighted with the value ‘100’ now appears on the note.

Additionally, a three millimeter wide security thread changes color from red to green according to the viewing angle.  When the note is held up to light, the security thread appears as a continuous line with a decorative pattern reading ‘100 MMA’.

The note also contains the signature of Governor Dr Fazeel Najeeb and the date 20 Safar 1434, 2 January 2013.

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No-confidence motion against Attorney General tabled for Monday

The no-confidence motion submitted in parliament against Attorney General Azima Shakoor has been tabled for Monday (October 28), reports local media.

The motion, with 26 MP’s signatures, was received September 25, said the parliament secretariat.

Shakoor was notified on October 1 that parliament will be debating the no-confidence motion against her.

Constitutional article 101(2) requires 14 days notice be given to the cabinet member in question and that individual will have the right to defend themselves both verbally and in writing.

The Maldivian Democratic Party’s parliamentary group is also seeking to move no-confidence motions against Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim, Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu and Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb for their roles in the government’s attempt to stall the presidential election, reports Haveeru.

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Court did not share Elections Commission security information, says police

Data and technical information provided by the Supreme Court to a police forensic team during the Jumhooree Party’s case against the Elections Commission (EC) could not have been used to access the commission’s web servers, the Maldives Police Service has said.

Police said in a press release yesterday (October 21) that the forensic team offered technical assistance sought by the court to examine the evidence of alleged electoral fraud.

The police team were provided a printed list of the marked voters register and the access logs for the EC’s ballot progress report system (BPRS), which contained the IP addresses of those who had accessed the server, along with date and time.

“This is not information that could be used to penetrate any web site or web server,” police said, adding that the Supreme Court did not share any data from the EC aside from the BPRS logs.

“As sufficient time was not available to analyse the aforementioned logs and because the Elections Commission did not provide technical information concerning the BPRS, this service’s forensic team was unable to conduct a technical analysis,” the press release stated.

The police statement concluded with an appeal to all state institutions to protect and securely maintain “online systems containing information related to Maldivian citizens” while offering assurances that police would provide any assistance requested to ensure protection of such systems.

The police statement follows remarks by EC Chair Fuwad Thowfeek on state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM) on Saturday night claiming that the commission’s data was being “destroyed” after technical information and logs were submitted to the Supreme Court.

“Previously, access to the system was very restricted to very few people, not just anybody could access it. But now the system is open. Now we are seeing people accessing and changing our database. No one had the opportunity to access the system in the annulled first round of presidential elections. People are destroying our data,” Thowfeek had said.

“So we cannot give the kind of certainty they [political parties] want, NCIT [National Centre for Information Technology] cannot give that kind of assurance now either. Earlier, they said they could not notice any external access in the annulled first round of election. They have not said anything yet [about the revote]. But I am certain, I know that if they check now, they will find there are ways for people to access the database. Because we see changes that should not take place happening to our data.”

Securing the IT system

The NCIT meanwhile said in a press statement on Sunday (October 20) that the centre’s staff have been working with the EC to secure the commission’s database and IT system following the Supreme Court judgment annulling the September 7 election.

In point 16 of the guidelines imposed on the EC by the Supreme Court verdict on October 7, the EC was ordered to reform their IT system in accordance with the “professional opinion” of the NCIT and other relevant state institutions.

Following consultations with the EC on October 8, the NCIT recommended immediate measures concerning “the most sensitive problems”, which the EC promptly implemented, the press release stated.

As interruptions to the EC systems could occur during the process, NCIT officials were allowed to establish a mechanism ensuring security on October 18 after the voter registry was printed – one day before the re-scheduled vote was due to take place.

The NCIT did note, however, that as the mechanism was set up on October 18, the centre was unable ensure external parties did not access the EC server and database before that date.

The NICT press release stressed that it had not sought any usernames or passwords required to access the EC systems and database during the process of securing the servers, adding that this information was not required to implement the recommended security measures.

“Therefore, if anyone apart from those authorised by Elections [Commission] accessed the system and database, it has to be further investigated,” the NCIT stated.

Following Thowfeek’s remarks on TVM, the press release stated, the NCIT had asked the EC to share relevant information concerning the alleged security breach, but was yet to receive a response.

Anonymous

The police press statement meanwhile revealed that on August 14 it was alerted to information from the Department of National Registration’s (DNR’s) ID card database, along with the names of registered political party members, being published on a website (http://maldives.annonymous.lv).

Police discovered that the information was taken from an EC web server (p.elections.gov.mv) as the server’s home page was hacked, the press release explained.

However, when the security breach was brought to the attention of the EC, police said that the commission allegedly denied the incident took place and refused to provide cooperation to the police investigation.

The site was blocked by the Communication Authority of Maldives (CAM) on August 20 upon request by the police, after which it was taken down with foreign assistance, police revealed.

Moreover, police found out that an automatic virus was downloaded to computers of persons visiting the page on the EC’s website that detailed the number of registered members of political parties.

Following the discovery, police met with EC Chair Thowfeek and other officials on August 19 to discuss the security issues and to share the findings.

“At the meeting, the commission’s technical staff said the Elections Commission’s web servers were constantly attacked and that they were blocking the IP addresses of the attackers,” police said.

While the EC was requested to provide the noted IP addresses, the police statement said that the information has yet to be sent.

Speaking at a press conference last night (October 21), Thowfeek said that NCIT officials were working ceaselessly with the EC IT staff but had not yet completed a full report on the security issues.

The NCIT has offered assurances that the EC servers and database would be secured before preparations were underway for the presidential election scheduled for November 9, Thowfeek said.

“We are proceeding with the assurance of the technical staff,” he said.

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Parliament approves MDP MP Ahmed Hamza to Judicial Service Commission

Parliament today approved Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza as the People’s Majlis’ representative to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) with 43 votes in favour, 27 against and one abstention.

The MP for Faafu Bilehdhoo was approved after a proposal backed by pro-government Progressive Party (PPM) of Maldives and Jumhooree Party (JP) to appoint JP MP Ilham Ahmed to the judicial oversight commission was defeated 34-39.

Hamza’s name was proposed by Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP ‘Colonel’ Mohamed Nasheed and seconded by MDP MP Eva Abdulla.

The opposition party’s success in approving its member to the JSC confirms a new-found majority for the MDP with the provisional support of the DRP, which is currently backing MDP presidential candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed in the upcoming presidential election.

The MDP currently has 33 seats in parliament while the DRP has nine.

The 10-member independent judicial watchdog body meanwhile consists of three judges from the three tiers of the judiciary, the chair of the Civil Service Commission, the Attorney General, a member appointed by the president, the speaker of parliament, an MP approved by parliament, a member of the general public selected by parliament, and a lawyer elected by licensed practitioners of the legal profession.

The slot for the parliament representative was vacated after JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim accepted the loss of his seat in July after lawyers questioned the legality of a presidential candidate remaining in the JSC.

Article 10 of the JSC Act states that a member of the commission will automatically lose his seat in the event that they “file to contest in an election for any political position under the constitution of the Maldives”.

The newest member of the JSC, Ahmed Hamza, is an experienced lawyer and long-serving MP.

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Maldivian government at best an inept bystander, at worst a willing collaborator: The Hindu

In forcing the cancellation of the presidential polls a second time, the Maldives government has proved to be at best an inept bystander and at worst a willing collaborator, reads today’s editorial in Indian newspaper The Hindu.

The Waheed administration has not only prevented the Maldivian people from exercising their franchise, but also stands in direct contempt of the original Supreme Court order that required elections to be held before October 20.

Strangely, even the Court did not deem it fit to take cognisance of the blatant flouting of its order by the executive, the very arm tasked with administering the polls. It is impossible to miss the pattern: there were no major complaints of voter list tampering till the results came out on the night of September 7; the first complainant who approached the Court was a trailing candidate Qasim Ibrahim, who is a member of the powerful Judicial Services Commission.

Based on questionable evidence, the Supreme Court annulled the polls and ordered fresh elections. It also set clear guidelines, one of which related to approval of electoral rolls by the candidates. This effectively gave candidates the right to veto the polls.

President Mohamed Waheed — sworn in under controversial circumstances after Mohamed Nasheed resigned on February 7, 2012 — cannot abdicate responsibility for the Maldivian Police Service forcibly blocking Election Commission personnel from moving out poll-related material on the morning of October 19, when the elections were scheduled.

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Maldives facing fundamental battle for its future: Independent

“I don’t think there is going to be an election any time soon,” former President Mohamed Nasheed told The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe, speaking from Male.

“They have had the election and they have had the result, and we won. They came to power in a coup and they will not leave.”

The archipelago island nation has been rocked by a series of crises since Mr Nasheed was forced from office in February 2012 in what he and his supporters say was a police-backed coup. Under international pressure, his successor, Mr Waheed, agreed to hold new elections.

The first round of those polls was held on September 7, with Mr Nasheed emerging with the highest number of votes and appearing well-placed for a run-off, due to have been held on September 28.

When the country’s court halted that run-off amid claims the original poll had not been fair, despite observers saying they believed it was legitimate, a fresh poll was fixed for Saturday. But on Saturday police prevented the poll from going ahead, claiming it was in breach of a court ruling.

Observers said that beneath the twists and turns lies a more fundamental battle over the future of the Maldives. Mr Nasheed was elected in 2008 in the country’s first independent election, defeating Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former dictator who had ruled for 30 years.

Mr Waheed, the president, on Monday spoke to the nation in a televised address and told the media he would guarantee a free and fair poll. His spokesman, Masood Imad, dismissed Mr Nasheed’s claims and said the president would not remain after his term expires.

“The President has said he would not wish to stay in office after November 11,” said Mr Imad. “The President has no intention of not stepping down. Nasheed is a liar.”

There has been widespread international criticism of the delay in the election. Late on Monday evening, the Mr Waheed’s office said a new election date had now been fixed for November 9, with any run-off poll to held on November 16

One Western diplomat who asked not to be identified, said if a run-off was required it would take place after the expiration of Mr Waheed’s term. The diplomat said: “That takes us into slightly uncharted waters.”

Farah Faisal, a supporter of Mr Nasheed and who previously served as the Maldives’ ambassador to Britain before resigning in protest, said she worried that Mr Nasheed’s rivals would not allow voting to go ahead on November 9.

She said: “If you are staring defeat in the face why would you want to have an election?”

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Police ask HRCM to substantiate claims of malpractice regarding role in delayed vote

The Maldives Police Service has requested that the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) substantiate its claims that police exceeded their mandate during the delaying of the presidential election on October 19.

The scheduled poll failed to go ahead after police informed the Elections Commission that it would not support the election. The commission reported that police officers had informed them no document related to the election could leave their offices.

Maldives ‘police life’ website reported that the statement claims “actions of the Police on the 19th of October were based on the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives and the Supreme Court verdict, SC-C/42/2013, along with ensuring the rights of every individual who can vote”.

“The document goes on to state that the Maldives Police Service had prepared in advance for the election on the 19th with Officers being sent to the atolls on the 18th, being sent abroad as per the instructions of the Elections Commission and with separate Officers being sent with the voting list and vote slips being transported by air,” read the police website.

On the day scheduled for the vote. the HRCM released a statement arguing that the police service had “acted outside of their mandate in obstructing elections.”

“Point one of the Supreme Court’s 16 point guideline orders all institutions to provide cooperation to hold an election before October 20th. And yet, today Police had obstructed EC and brought the election to a halt. Even if there are concerns, the Elections Commission is the authority mandated by the Constitution of Maldives to stop an election if there is a need for it,” the HRCM continued.

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