Day: September 8, 2013

MDP to resume campaigning for “few thousand extra votes” needed for second round win

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate, former President Mohamed Nasheed has stated that the party has resumed campaign activities on Sunday (September 8 ) to gather “the few thousand additional votes” needed to guarantee a win in the second round of the election scheduled for September 28.

“My first obligation, of course, is to thank every single Maldivian for participating in yesterday’s democratic election,” the candidate leading Saturday’s poll began.

Speaking to the press at his residence Kenereege for the first time since Saturday’s election, Nasheed stated that he did not believe anyone could describe the party’s total 45.45 percent of votes as “failing in the first round”.

“After three years of government we have received an overwhelming majority of over 95,000 votes. That is far, far more than, for instance, Gayoom managed to do after 30 years in government. And of course, Dr Waheed, after two years in government has failed so, so badly,” Nasheed said, referring to the incumbent’s 5.13 percent support in the first round.

“The election held yesterday was very well organised by the Elections Commission (EC). There were a few concerning issues about some ballot boxes. We believe that in some of the ballot boxes the voter turnout is much higher than the electoral list, and we would like the Elections Commission to explain these irregularities and discrepancies to us,” Nasheed said.

“As I see it, many Maldivians have voted for the MDP: over 95,000 citizens came out and voted in support of having our policies implemented. However, these 95,000 votes are still two or three thousand short of what we needed to win the election in a single round,” Nasheed claimed.

“Our discussions are now about what needs to be done to gain these two to three thousand additional votes that we need. There are things that this party knows for certain: as in, we know that, God willing, we will succeed if we put in hard work and maximum effort,” Nasheed said, adding that the party will hold a rally to initiate campaign efforts tonight.

“Many renowned and capable individuals in the Maldives who used to support or work for other political parties called me last night. I am speaking about many individuals from the Jumhoree Party (JP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP). What I have to tell them all is that MDP has development in its heart, we have no other objective. All persons are welcome to join us,” Nasheed said. He added that this included former ministers, as well as members of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s family.

“One of the biggest realities that has come to light due to the results of this election is that the citizens of the Maldives want an MDP government, they want good governance. Another reality that came to light from the results is that my former Vice President, ‘baaghee’ (traitor) Mohamed Waheed Hassan has no support at all, and that activities like [his] have no support in the country.”

“I still believe that it will be detrimental to the country’s development if we are to split up the cabinet to various parties,” Nasheed said, when asked if he planned to form alliances with other political parties for the second round.

He added that any individuals are welcome to work with the party to contribute to the development plans included in the party’s “Costed and Budgeted” manifesto.

“Some parties were creating a lot of deception under the pretence of speaking about Islam. I hope that these people will stop working in this manner. I believe that a small number of citizens get confused by these deceptive messages, but my hope is that in the next two weeks or so, they too will come to see the reality,” Nasheed responded, when asked what he felt could be the cause of failing – with such a narrow margin – to win the election in the first round itself.

“We will respect Islam and uphold its values. We will not place religion in trays and peddle it out like them,” said Nasheed.

International community

“What the international community now needs to understand is, despite what is written in the CONI (Commission of National Inquiry) report, MDP is the party that has the largest support base in the Maldives,” Nasheed stated.

“Unfortunately, the party which is ideologically closest to MDP has not been able to make much of a show in this election because of how they were led to work with Dr Waheed. I sometimes feel this is the work of the international community, who pushed the DRP towards Waheed, because they have been engaged in the politics of this country very heavily,” Nasheed alleged.

“They have always wanted Dr Waheed to come out with a better showing. And they have edged and shoved certain political groups in this country towards Dr Waheed,” Nasheed continued.

“I honestly hope that they will understand the realities of this country, and that they backed the wrong horse,” Nasheed said.

Battle lines

After narrowly finishing third during yesterday’s election with 24.07 percent of the vote, the Jumhoree Party (JP) said it had not yet decided on how it would approach a second round of voting. Despite coming third by just over a percent, the party said no decision had been taken over whether it would contest the provisional result.

“We need to consult the various party councils on how we will stand,” said JP Policy Secretary Mohamed Ajmal.

After a group of around 15 JP supporters demonstrated outside the Dharubaruge convention centre early on Sunday after of the Elections Commission (EC) unveiled the provisional election results, Ajmal said the party had not yet decided to contest the validity of the counting.

“We have raised some concerns with the EC about the voting process, but have not said we will contest [the poll],” he said. “We have alerted [the EC] of our concerns and they are gradually coming up with responses to them.”

According to Ajmal, the party has raised several concerns about how polling was conducted by the EC yesterday, including instances where certain individuals had reportedly been barred from voting, and cases of other people finding ballots already cast under their name.

EC President Fuwad Thowfeek today dismissed allegations of improper conduct during voting, but said the commission’s complaints department would investigate any reported irregularities.

Meanwhile, President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s campaign team said the incumbent would not be putting out a statement regarding his own intentions after Saturday’s result. A statement was expected later this week, according to a source in his team.

The Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) confirmed that senior officials including presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen and his running mate Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed had met in Male’ shortly after ballot counting had to discuss their second round plans.

MP Ahmed Nihan said at the time that the party had looked to meet with potential allies, including President Waheed and Gasim Ibrahim ahead of the second round, confirming that every other candidate who stood in the election against Nasheed would be invited “to be on-board” in the run-off.

MP Nihan and vice presidential candidate Dr Jameel were not responding to calls at time of press.

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Jumhoree Party contest election results amidst rumours of anomalous votes

A group of around 15 Jumhoree Party (JP) supporters demonstrated outside the Dharubaruge convention centre this morning ahead of a delayed Elections Commission (EC) briefing to unveil the country’s provisional election results.

The crowd called for the resignation of EC President Fuwad Thowfeek amidst uncertainty over hours of delays to the results being unveiled and allegations on social media of a discrepancy in vote numbers.

When the press conference did take place – some six hours after originally scheduled – Thowfeek dismissed these claims but said the EC’s complaints department would investigate any reported irregularities.

“Fuwad Thowfeek, resign,” the dozen-strong crowd chanted outside . “Just because you wife is MDP [Maldivian Democratic Party], it doesn’t mean you can steal 10,000 votes.”

The initial results filtering through local media had shown that JP leader Gasim Ibrahim narrowly lost out on a place in the second round of voting, with the MDP and the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) candidates gaining more votes.

The EC’s final results have since revealed the PPM’s Abdulla Yameen beating Gasim to the run-off by 2,677 votes. MDP candidate Mohamed Nasheed took the largest share of the vote with 95,224 votes. Incumbent President Dr Mohamed Waheed tallied 10,750 votes – just over five percent of the popular vote.

However, the results had been noted for their confusing presentation, with sluggish EC figures supplemented by differing poll results, depending on the outlet chosen. One local newspaper even had a set of voting figures that equated to 102 percent.

“Fuwad Thowfeek resign”

The highly agitated group, led by Youth Wing leader Moosa Anwar, surrounded the door to the building before falling back upon learning that the EC officials were not yet on the premises. With encouragement from a handful of newly arrived police, the group were soon ushered toward the road, where they sat and continued to chant.

One member of the group told Minivan News that they were calling to have the vote recast, before producing his phone. The tweet displayed on the screen detailed a set of results for Kunahandhoo, in Laamu Atoll – showing 438 eligible voters, but 690 votes cast.

Minivan News was also shown the examples of Paradise resort, and Hinnavaru – both reported with similar anomalous numbers.

Another JP supporter explained that they had learned of the potential problem via the media, and had filed an official complaint.

“Please help us – we want to vote,” one protester said who had heard turnout figure as high as 93 percent. “If they say they will look into it, we will go away.”

The crowd were soon joined by JP MP’s Shifag Mufeed and Ilham Ahmed, as well as party spokesperson Moosa Ramiz, who said he was unable to speak with the media until the party had clarified its position.

Tempers flared at around 4:30 am, with the group suddenly charging the police in an attempt to get into the convention centre. MP Shifag made the most progress before the police forced them all back on to Ameenee Magu.

Shortly after this, the press were invited to go back into the building, and the small crowd began to recede. Commissioner Thowfeek soon arrived to give the long-awaited provisional results.

He gave the final turnout figure as 88 percent (of 239,593 people were eligible to vote), adding that he had not yet had a chance to examine the complaints, although he did state that no person of “sound mind” would believe that 10,000 additional votes could have been cast in the presence of monitors and observers.

Transparency Maldives – who ran the most comprehensive observation operation on the day – had earlier announced that no incidents reported on election day would have a “material impact on the outcome of the election”.

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President receives five percent of votes, Nasheed to enter second round against Yameen

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:

  1. Gasim Ibrahim – 50,422 (24.07%)
  2. Mohamed Waheed – 10,750 (5.13%)
  3. Abdulla Yameen – 53,099 (25.35%)
  4. 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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