MDP early election goal better sought through Majlis, not “acts of terrorism”: government

The 50,000-member strong Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said anti-government protests will “intensify” as the country awaits further action from the Commonwealth, while the government has challenged the motives behind ongoing demonstrations.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad claimed the now opposition MDP, led by former President Mohamed Nasheed, is not interested in democratic processes to ensure early elections, preferring instead to opt for protests the government has labelled “terrorism”.

The Maldives was set a four week deadline by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) on April 16 to address the impartiality of President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s independent inquiry commission into the controversial transfer of power, or face “stronger measures”.

President Waheed has already pledged to hold “early” elections by July 2013 – the earliest date permitted, under the constitution, Imad told Minivan News.

Any demands for elections earlier than that date – as requested by international bodies such the Commonwealth and EU– should be achieved through parliament. The MDP presently holds 31 elected members in the 77 seat Majlis chamber, following the recent defection of MDP MP Shifag Mufeed to former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM).

“I don’t see a reason why [former President Mohamed Nasheed] is demonstrating other than to promote his lunatic point of view. He is encouraging hooliganism and acts of terrorism like burning down buildings,” alleged Imad. “We have given them a date for early elections and that is July 2013. That is the earliest we can do.”

The comments were made after a few thousand MDP supporters conducted demonstrations over the weekend near the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) building in Male’. The gathering saw MDP members and supporters holding meetings and criticising the alleged role of mutinous elements in the Maldives’ security forces in bringing President Waheed’s government to power.

Meanwhile, several hundred MDP protesters waving yellow flags mobbed President Waheed’s car during a visit to the island of Kulhudhuffushi over the weekend.

The MDP has alleged that February’s transfer of power, in which Waheed took office after Mohamed Nasheed “resigned” following a mutiny by sections of the police and military, was a “coup d’etat”.  The party has since refused to accept the present executive’s legitimacy. This led to the MDP twice boycotting the President’s inaugural speech to parliament, as well as a vote last week to approve Waheed’s cabinet and vice president appointees.

“Gentleman’s option”

Imad questioned why Nasheed and his supporters were not choosing to take “the gentleman’s option” by pursuing early elections and a constitutional amendment in parliament: “The job could be done right now if [Nasheed] thinks realistically,” he claimed.

“Nasheed himself loves to take the streets and make a nuisance of himself. He believes he defeated Gayoom on his own but he didn’t. Nasheed was hiding in his house while others were out protesting,” Imad said.

He said that rather than protesting, he believed the MDP would have greater success in seeking a vote through the People’s Majlis, where it remains the majority representative.

The MDP presently stands against a government-aligned coalition of rival parties including the PPM and the then-opposition majority party from which in split in 2011, the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

Imad also alleged that Nasheed was a “dictatorial” presence in the MDP and did not care for democratic processes, after the passing last week of two no-confidence motions against the party’s president and vice-president by the MDP’s national council.

Nearly 95 percent of those in attendance voted in support of the no-confidence motions against former MDP President Dr Ibrahim Didi and former Vice-President Alhan Fahmy.

Dr Didi has since submitted an official complaint to the Elections Commission (EC) regarding his ouster by the party, alleging that the decision was not in-line with the party’s registered constitution.

Imad said the party’s of the no-confidence motions reflected badly on Nasheed’s own democratic credentials.

“[Nasheed] is now throwing away elected people in his own party. Clearly an election is not important to him,” Imad said. “ Dr Didi and Mr Alhan are elected members of the party.”

Weekend gatherings

Addressing the MDP gathering outside the MMA building over the weekend, party spokesperson Hamid Adbul Ghafoor told Minivan News that protests were likely to increase in number in the coming weeks.

With two weeks until CMAG’s deadline for the government to review the composition and mandate of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) expires, Ghafoor said that protests were expected to “intensify”.

He added that despite the presence of riot police during Friday’s demonstration, demonstrators were able to peacefully hold meetings.

“We have set a precedent where we can speak to security forces peacefully about our grievances. I believe the administration now understand that we are not trying to attempt a coup against them,” he said. “This is even though we believe that a section of the police force in this country took money and turned mercenary to overthrow Nasheed’s government [on February 7],” he alleged.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News that a “few incidents” occurred during the demonstration leading to the arrest of six people.

According to local media reports, riot police blocked roads surrounding the MMA gathering. Water cannons and other crowd deterrents were deployed on site, were unused during the demonstration.

Momentum

Minivan News observed around 4000 people taking part in the demonstration outside the MMA building at the peak of the protest.

Two weeks previously, the party claimed that 10,000 people gathered in Male’ to protest. Another protest last week reportedly consisted of around 6000 people.

MDP Women’s Wing spokesperson Aishath Aniya told Minivan News at the time that interest still remained “strong” among party supporters for protests.

The momentum of the protests had not diminished and the numbers of people taking to the streets were consistent, she claimed.

“I don’t see the numbers of protesters decreasing, though [turnout] does depend on the time and place of demonstrations,” she said. “We would obviously get fewer protesters during school hours.”

Aniya claimed that from her experience, during instances where former President Mohamed Nasheed was in attendance, Large numbers of people were attracted to demonstrations when former President Mohamed Nasheed was in attendance, she observed.

There was, she said, “tremendous pressure” among MDP  members to mobilise and demonstrate at events attended by the new president around the country.

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“I’m not a person who worships money”: Shifag defends move from MDP to PPM

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Shifag ‘Histo’ Mufeed yesterday signed for the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) during a meeting in his constituency of Fuvamullah.

The meeting was attended by the party’s leader, former President Maumoon Gayoom. Shifag was pictured in local media with the former President, draped with a garland of pink flowers.

Shifag acknowledged that charges of financial gain were likely to be levelled at any MP crossing the parliamentary divide during the political upheaval.

“I’m not a person who worships money. I feel disappointed and embarrassed that such people exist in our party. However, I want to assure you I will do whatever is in my power for you citizens, for your island, for my island, no matter which colour or which party I’ve signed on to,” Shifag said.

Shifag also explained his previous “abusive” criticism of Gayoom as the “words of a young man”who had not had any other president to compare the 30-year autocrat with.

“I was very young and politically naïve. Our history had not been written down very clearly”, he told people at a rally in Fuvahmulah yesterday.

Shifag claimed during the rally that the fall of former President Nasheed had arisen because of the actions of MDP members who had begun to act in a self-serving and dictatorial fashion.

Former Tourism Minister Mariyam Zulfa said the party had been aware that Shifag had been negotiating with other parties.

“Shifag has always been negotiating with other parties for a better deal for himself. We’ve known that he was was not one of the party faifthful, and that behind the scenes he was negotiating,” she said.

The Fuvahmulah MP had become increasingly critical of the MDP’s leadership in recent times. Last week he chose to go against the party line, attending the Majlis session in which the government’s nominees for the Vice-Presidency and the cabinet were confirmed by the coalition parties.

The official position of the MDP is that the February 7 transfer of power was orchestrated through a coup and, therefore, that the current government is illegitimate.

The MDP’s President and Vice President, Dr Ibrahim Didi and Alhan Fahmy, were removed from their posts last week after the party’s National Congress voted in support of no-confidence motions made against them. The primary reason given was the belief that the pair had been making statements in contradiction of the party’s official resolution of February 8.

Assuaging fears of further divisions within the MDP, Zulfa said that the party was “stronger than ever”.

“It is now that we should be dealing with people who are not loyal to the party philosophy. Even [former party leaders, voted out last week] Dr Ibrahim Didi and Alhan Fahmy – the time to deal with that was now. They were creating divisions at a time we need unity. As leaders they should have been uniting the party rather than questioning the way it was doing things,” said Zulfa.

All three of the parliamentary seats in Shifag’s Fuvahmullah constituency are now held by the PPM which, with the signature of Shifag, now has the largest minority representation in the Majlis with 18 members from a total of 77.

The PPM’s group leader Abdulla Yameen was confident that the party would gain more parliamentary converts, though he admitted that the “dynamic” nature of politics makes predictions difficult.

“The MDP will have to make extra efforts, they have an uphill battle to fight. They will have to arrest the movement of MPs to other parties,” he said.

The PPM’s unofficial numbers in the house became officially recognised after the victory of Ahmed Shareef in the Thimarafushi by-election in April. Prior to this, the Majlis’s PPM supporters were technically classed as independents as the party had not won any seats through the polls.

The party was formed in October 2011 after the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) split. Vice-President of the party Umar Naseer yesterday told Minivan News that he was confident the party could replace the MDP as the majority leader in the Majlis.

Unlike the rules governing the party affiliation of council members, members of the Majlis are not required to stand for re-election after changing political parties.

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Giant onions link climate change to food security

Climate change activists held an exhibition depicting giant onions on Saturday to highlight the impact of climate change on food security in the Maldives.

Co-founder of the Maldivian Youth Climate Network, Aisha Niyaz, said extreme weather events were becoming increasingly frequent and severe all over the planet due to climate change.

With the Maldives dependent on imports for 90 percent of its food, the country remained vulnerable to food price fluctuations when extreme weather events decreased crop yields in other parts of the world.

The onions symbolised the dramatic increase in onion prices in 2010 and 2011 after flash flooding caused extensive damage to onion farms in India. The price of onions throughout the country jumped from Rf 12 (US$ 0.8) to Rf 25 (US$ 1.6) Aisha said.

“It’s not just sea-level rise or erosion that we should be worried about. Climate change has a huge impact on Maldives’ food security,” Aisha said.

Only 10 percent of land in the Maldives was suitable for agriculture in the Maldives, Aisha noted and expressed concern over the lack of storage facilities for food in the Maldives. The Maldives only had storage capacity to store three months-worth of food, she said.

“We are very concerned about food security in the Maldives. Climate change is not something that is to happen in the distant future. We are feeling the effects of it even today,” she added.

The art exhibition at artificial beach was part of a world-wide campaign led by American-based global environmental organization 350.org as part of its “Connect the dots” campaign.

The campaign has rallied communities from 188 countries around the world, celebrating May 5 as a global “Climate Impacts Day” to highlight the connections between climate change and extreme weather events.

350.org advocates for carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to be reduced from its current level of 392 parts per million (ppm) to below 350 ppm to preserve the plant. “350 means climate safety,” the organisation said on its website.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) youth wing members also held an event to mark Climate Impacts Day, wading into Malé city’s lagoon to call attention to flooding in the city due to high tides. The campaigners also called for democracy to be reinstated to the Maldives.

The MDP alleges the transfer of power on February 7 was a coup d’état and have called for fresh elections.

“On May 5, Maldives experienced the biggest full moon of the year, and the highest tide of the year. This led to flooding in some areas, especially on the eastern side of Malé near the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital,” MDP youth wing president Aminath Shauna said.

“We are vulnerable to flooding even from a full moon. So we wanted to call attention to how vulnerable the Maldives is to climate change and associated sea-level rises,” she said.

“Most importantly, if there is no democracy, we cannot address larger issues such as climate change,” she added. Shauna was the former administration’s focal point for United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC).

Shaviyani Atoll Kandhitheemu islanders also held a rally on its beach to emphasize Maldives’ vulnerability to sea level rise.

In 2009, former President Mohamed Nasheed led an underwater cabinet meeting calling for carbon dioxide levels to be lowered to 350ppm.

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Police investigate security guard suspected of filming girl inside IGMH toilet

The police are investigating a security guard of the state owned Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) for allegedly taking indecent images of a 16 year-old girl inside the hospital’s toilet.

The incident was reported to the police on May 3, according to local news Sun.

The police media official said that no arrests have been made yet, but the investigation is ongoing.

The girl was reportedly visiting her father admitted at the hospital.

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President reconstitutes six company boards

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan has this week reconstituted the boards of six national companies.

The president yesterday announced that the respective boards of Maldives Post Ltd, Felivaru Fisheries Maldives Ltd, and Maldives Road Development Corporation Ltd were being reappointed.

For the Maldives Post Ltd Board of Directors, Badhurunaseer Naseem was appointed as managing director, with Mohamed Nizam taking up the chairman role.

Mohamed Imthiyaz was appointed as Chair of the Board of Directors of Felivaru Fisheries Maldives Ltd. Ali Ahmed was appointed as managing director for the same company.

For the Maldives Road Development Corporation, Aslam Rasheed will take the chairman role, while Ibrahim Nazeem will serve as managing director.

The appointments were announced a day after the president reconstituted the Boards of Directors for Island Aviation Services Ltd, Maldives Ports Ltd and the Housing Development Corporation.

Bandhu Ibrahim Saleem will take up the Chair of the Island Aviation Services Board of Directors. Abdul Haaris will become Managing Director on the same body.

For Maldives Ports Ltd, Abdul Matheen Ahmed will take up the chairman role of the board.

Ali Shareef and Suhail Ahmed will take up the respective roles of Chairman and Managing Director of the Housing Development Corporation’s Board of Directors.

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Mulay failed to pass information on coup to Indian government: Open Magazine

Senior figures of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s government have accused Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar M Mulay of failing to pass critical information to the Indian government on February 7, as mutinying police and army officers joined opposition demonstrators to overthrow Nasheed’s presidency.

The allegations were published in India’s weekly current affairs and features magazine, Open, following Nasheed’s recent visit to India.

Former National Security Advisor Ameen Faisal told the magazine that he was “surprised” that Mulay was in the company of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s half-brother, Abdulla Yameen, during the upheaval, and made no attempt to contact the elected government.

“I believe that proper information was not passed on to Indian authorities,” Faisal alleged, to Open.

“I was surprised that instead of contacting us, the government [of the Maldives], Mulay was having a discussion with opposition party leaders like Yameen in the Indian High Commission, when the coup was happening. In a situation like this, why call the opposition and not establish contact with the government? Before this happened, I never suspected [any conspiracy]. We were very close,” he said.

“I maintained a close relationship with Mulay. I called him three or four times while the coup was underway. I could not contact President Nasheed. At that point, he was inside the army headquarters and his phone was jammed. I spoke to Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem, instead, for his advice on seeking Indian intervention to control the situation. He told me that President Nasheed did not want any military intervention as it was an ‘internal matter’,” Faisal recalled.

“Later, Naseem called me to request some assistance from India. As the national security advisor, I called up Mulay and sought Indian assistance… He asked me to ask the foreign minister to send a note. I told Mulay that this was no time to be sending notes or love letters.”

Mulay, Faisal contended, “could see what was happening from his window. The whole coup was being telecast live. As a diplomat, he should’ve known that the whole country was in chaos.”

Faisal further claimed that Mulay had earlier informed him that the Indian Navy vessel INS Suvarna was in Maldivian waters three days before the events of February 7, and departed that morning. Open independently confirmed the presence of the vessel in Maldivian waters on that date.

“If the Indian Naval ship was just an hour away, it was in our territorial waters, why was the [Maldives] government not informed of it? What was the Indian naval ship doing there?” Faisal alleged.

Open observed that former President Nasheed appeared careful not to go on record with any allegations himself – and instead deferred to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) interim Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, “to speak on my behalf”.

“[Mulay] became so powerful that he started behaving like the prime minister and not a high commissioner. In early 2011, we felt that Mulay was drifting away from the MDP. He wanted to meet leaders of opposition parties. He wanted to be invited to all official functions that took place in Maldives. He was invited to many government functions, but not all. We found that a lot of companies were coming [to the country] for business through Mulay. We were floating tenders for big projects. He would act like a middleman,” Manik alleged to Open.

“Mulay would visit various [Maldivian] islands with his Indian friends, many of them businessmen. The government did not know who they were. Mulay has good connections with opposition parties, particularly Gayoom’s party,” he further claimed.

Manik also alleged that Yameen was present in Mulay’s office on the morning of February 7, while outside, a group of opposition supporters had joined police in an all-out assault on the country’s main military base in Republic Square. A second group broke down the gates of the state broadcaster, and took over the station. President Nasheed subsequently resigned, later alleging this was under duress.

“How many times did Mulay try to talk to somebody in the Government of India when all this was going on? How many times did Mulay call the Indian Government to ask them to intervene? There are 30,000 Indians living here and Indian business interests are at stake. He should have informed the Indian authorities. There is something fishy about Mulay’s response,” Manik told Open.

Open sought response from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, which did not address the allegations, but instead expressed “full confidence” in Mulay.

“The alleged references to the High Commissioner’s conduct in some media interactions by former President Nasheed were raised during his discussions with Indian officials,” noted MEA Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.

“Former President [Nasheed] had clarified that he had not said the things attributed to him in the media. He said that he had known the High Commissioner for three years. The High Commissioner was a poet and he liked him. There were never any issues with the High Commissioner and he would clarify this to the media appropriately,” Akbaruddin claimed.

“We do not think it is appropriate to bring our High Commissioner into the discourse. He enjoys our full confidence.”

Speaking to Minivan News, Mulay declined to comment on the specific allegations, “as my government has already responded”, but described them as “completely baseless, a flight of fancy.”

Yameen confirmed to Minivan News that he had met with Mulay on the morning of February 7.

“It was Mulay who SMSed me and asked me to come and discuss the national crisis,” he said. “Mulay asked me to get a checklist of demands [from the protesters] and try to see if there could be a three-day respite.”

Asked why he believed Mulay had contacted him, Yameen said he believed it was “because PPM was the largest opposition party [at the time].”

Additional allegations made by Manik and published in Open, that Yameen had “ transferred several thousand US dollars from Colombo to some army and police officials by way of travellers’ cheques”. However Yameen dismissed the allegations as “absolute gibberish.”

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“Reliable sources” say MDP’s Shifag to defect to PPM

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Shifag Mufeed is set to join the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), local media has claimed, citing “reliable sources” within the government aligned-party.

MDP Spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor had confirmed that the party would be taking disciplinary measures against Shifag after he broke a three-line whip on April 25, voting to endorse the government’s nominations for the vice-presidency as well as fourteen cabinet appointees.

Shifag was the sole representative from the MDP at the majlis session last month after the party boycotted the ratification process. The forty-five MPs present voted unanimously to endorse all appointees.

Shifag’s defection to the PPM would bring the party’s total number of supporters in the People’s Majlis up to 18, according to Haveeru.

The party, headed by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was formed in October 2011 after the DRP divided in two.  The PPM won its first seat in the Majlis last month after Ahmed Shareef won the Thimarafushi by-election, assuming the minority parliamentary leadership.

Under parliament law, the PPM was required to have at least one MP voted in under the party’s own ticket before its MPs – who were all elected under different groups such as the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) – could officially represent it in the Majlis chamber.

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Report identifies 155 juvenile crime cases so far in 2012

A new report released by the Juvenile Justice Unit (JJU) has detailed 155 cases of crime committed this year by young offenders.  Most of the cases are linked to suspects between 16 and 18 years of age, whilst a growing number of crimes were also found to involve young women.

Local media has reported that of the 155 cases of juvenile crime committed this year, 20 were related to assault, while 20 were filed over theft and robbery. A total of 18 cases related to drug abuse were also filed.

The JJU, which is run under the auspices of the Home Ministry, also reported that a number of crimes in the report were found to include “sexual misconduct”and vandalism.

Last year, the JJU concluded that the “vast majority” of crimes linked to young offenders between April 1 and June 30, 2011, related to people who did not attend school.

According to Haveeru, the JJU’s latest report found 68 percent of young offenders included in the report were found not to have attended school. A large proportion of the crimes committed in the report were linked to suspects aged between 16 and 18.

Local media added that there was a growing number of cases involving young females related to possession of alcohol and “disruption of harmony” relating to illegal gatherings.

The JJU concluded that a lack of proper nurturing, the negative influence of media and adults pushing young people into a life of crime were some of the key drivers for the number of offences in the report.

When adressing the work of a correctional training centre based in Kaafu Atoll, the report added that six children had undertaken rehabilitation programmes at the site so far this year.  However, Haveeru reported that there were concerns children being reintroduced back into society after committing offences were not getting the “necessary” encouragement and support.

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President Waheed will not stand for re-election: PPM VP Umar Naseer

Vice President of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Umar Naseer, has said the government faces “no international pressure” to hold early elections and will remain in power until 2013.

Naseer also emphasised that he does not expect President Mohamed Waheed Hassan to stand  for election during presidential polls scheduled for next year.

PPM deputy Naseer told Minivan News today that beyond a few “powerful” members in the Commonwealth, the present coalition government, in which his party is represented, faced no international pressure to hold fresh polls this year.

The comments were made after former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom also claimed this week that international calls for early elections to be held in the Maldives have grown “faint” and were “not an issue” to foreign dignitaries he had met recently.

The government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan has nonetheless faced criticisms from international bodies like the Commonwealth and the EU in recent months over its commitment to independently investigating how it came to power in February.

On April 16, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) warned it would consider taking “stronger measures” against the Maldivian government should it fail to revise the composition and work of an independent inquiry panel.  The panel, known as the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) was formed by the president to ascertain the exact details behind February’s transfer of power.  The Commonwealth has also recommended that early elections be called this year to overcome political uncertainty across the nation.

In a previous interview with Australian television, Naseer explained the perspective of the opposition demonstrators on February 7.

“We had a small command centre where we do all the protests. I command from the centre and give instructions to my people,” Naseer explained.

“On the protesters’ side, we were informing and educating the police and army through our speeches and television programs.”

Asked by SBS journalist Mark Davis if the opposition had made any other inducements, such as promises that they and their families would be “looked after” if they switched sides, Naseer said “there were.”

“We called on army and police and said that if a person was fired from his position because of their refusal to follow an unlawful order, the opposition would take care of them,” Naseer said.

President Waheed’s government has meanwhile insisted that presidential elections are not possible until July 2013 under the present constitution.  The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has refuted this claim, saying that fresh elections could be held within two months should the president resign from his position and hand over power temporarily to the parliamentary speaker. The now opposition MDP also stressed that it believes that the earlier elections can be held, the “better it would be” for the party.

Electoral defeat

Umar Naseer, who had previously served as deputy leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) before being dismissed, claimed that beyond the constitutional factors preventing elections this year, the MDP now also realised that they faced electoral defeat.

Recent by-election victories for the party, which have seen the PPM claim two island council seats and a seat in the People’s Majis, showed clear public support for the wider coalition government, Naseer said.

“If [general] elections were held right now, the MDP would be defeated badly,” he said. “The MDP understands this.”

Ahead of any presidential elections, Naseer claimed PPM was now focused on bolstering its presence in the Majlis after last month assuming the minority parliamentary leadership role.

The PPM now has the second highest number of MPs in parliament behind the MDP, which has retained majority leadership in the Majlis chamber.

Naseer claimed the party would continue pursuing a coalition that would allow it to replace the MDP as majority leader in the majlis.

“Our main focus now will be the elections in 2013,” he said.

Naseer added that with uncertainty over whether President Waheed would stand for election to head the national executive beyond 2013, the PPM would be working to strengthen the position of its own possible presidential candidate.

“My feeling right now is that [President Waheed] will not stand during the presidential elections,” he claimed.

Naseer’s comments echoed claims by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom during a Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) gathering near Male’s artificial beach area on Thursday evening (May 3).  Gayoom, who served as the country’s autocratic ruler for 30 years before being voted out in the country’s first democratic elections held in 2008, said that he had been meeting various ambassadors accredited to the Maldives of late.

None of these ambassadors, he claimed, had talked about early presidential polls.

The former president added that the two parliamentary by-elections held last month – both won by government-aligned parties – were an indication that the same outcome could be expected nationally if presidential polls were held at present.

There were however mixed fortunes for the government during two island council by-elections held the same day last month, with the now opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) taking one of the available seats.

National inquiry

Gayoom also reportedly used his address to discuss the CNI that has been criticised by the Commonwealth’s human rights body, CMAG, for not being “independent” or “credible” in regards to its work.

During his speech, the former president claimed that despite some foreign criticism, it was up to the Maldives to resolve its own internal issues

“That does not mean we should not consider the advice of foreign partners as they would give us right opinions and views. However, we have to take such opinions and advise into consideration and use what is right for this country,” Gayoom was quoted as saying by local newspaper Haveeru.

The PPM won three out of six by elections held since February’s transfer of power.  Alongside these election results, Gayoom claimed that parliamentary approval of the appointment of a new cabinet and vice president –albeit after the MDP refused to participate – proved the legitimacy of the current government.

The former president also used his address to to discuss the future for the PPM, which is set to hold its national congress between September 13 and September 15 this year. Gayoom said that during the event, any member of the party would be allowed to contest for whatever positon they wanted

“This party would not function according to the whim of a single individual, me included,” Haveeru quoted the former president as saying.

“Entrenchment”

Responding to the PPM’s statements, MDP spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor claimed that Gayoom was trying to mislead the public over the international pressure the government was currently under.  Ghafoor said he believed pressure was increasing for early elections and an independent review of February’s transfer of power.

“We have got structural assurances from the 54-member state Commonwealth in the form of time frames for both early elections and the CNI review,” he said.  “These time-frames have also been backed by India and the US.”

Ghafoor claimed that the MDP was itself hoping for presidential elections to be held as quickly as possible, alleging that government-aligned parties were looking to stall polls for as long as possible in order to damage “independent institutions” like the Elections Commission.

“We believe that the sooner elections can be held in the country the better. While the government believe the later the better,” he claimed.  “What they want is to entrench themselves in power before elections can be held.”

Ghafoor alleged that similar attempts to entrench a government into independent institutions  had be seen this in many countries that have undergone apparent coups such as Honduras and Fiji.

Ghafoor said he believed that the time-frame set by CMAG for elections to be called during 2012, represented an awareness among the international community that the current government was trying to “entrench” itself into national institutions.

“Last week, we met here in Male’ with five Members of European Parliament (MEPs). They confirmed that they still stood behind CMAG and its calls,” he claimed.

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