Voters said yes to peace and stability in Saturday’s parliamentary elections and rejected an ideology that was ruining the country, President Abdulla Yameen said at a rally held in Malé last night to celebrate the Progressive Coalition’s victory at the polls.
Voters said no to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) ideology because the country did not have the “energy to bear the wounds any further,” he said.
Voters also rejected foreign interference in Maldivian domestic affairs, Yameen added.
The Maldivian people supported the government’s efforts to develop the nation and fulfil campaign pledges, he continued, and endorsed plans to “take Maldivian youth out of the crime environment, offer a second chance to persons serving sentences, and bring them back to society for rehabilitation.”
The Progressive Coalition will hold celebration rallies across the country in the coming days, Yameen said, including one in Thinadhoo tomorrow night.
In surprising victories, coalition candidates took both parliamentary seats in the MDP’s traditional stronghold in the south.
The rallies will be attended by PPM leader and former president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, along with coalition leaders Ahmed Siyam Mohamed and Gasim Ibrahim, Yameen said.
“Good news” will be revealed at the Thinadhoo rally, he said, adding that the PPM’s “list of pledges” was not yet complete.
Continue progress brought by “golden 30 years”
The policies in the PPM manifesto were formulated to transform the “landscape of the Maldives,” he reiterated, stressing that the policies were not limited to raising old age benefits, empowering women, or prioritising Quran and Islamic education.
The PPM-led coalition government’s policies would benefit fishermen, young entrepreneurs, and “people of all ages”, he said.
The main priority of his administration was “putting the economy back on track,” President Yameen said, adding that the public was already seeing signs of the economy rebounding.
Foreign investors were interested in coming to the Maldives because of the current political stability, he said.
“We want to change the Maldives to a modern nation from where President Maumoon’s golden 30 years brought us,” he said.
Acknowledging public discontent over the quality of healthcare, Yameen said fixing problems in the sector was a high priority, noting that there were two or three doctors per 10,000 people in most developed countries.
“With God’s blessing, the Maldives even today is in a position where we have to rejoice. Today there are 1.6 doctors per 1,000 people in the Maldives,” he said.
The foundation for the progress the Maldives has made was laid by President Gayoom, he said.
Separation of powers
Yameen also expressed gratitude to the leadership of the MDP for the prevailing stable political environment.
The opposition party has meanwhile released a press statement expressing “deep concerns” with the electoral environment ahead of polling day on March 22.
“The MDP believes the processes of elections from a quantitative point of view were efficient and well managed. However, continued judicial interference in the electoral process affected the independence of the elections commission, and created an atmosphere not conducive towards holding a free and fair election,” the statement read.
The Supreme Court’s removal of the Elections Commission (EC) chair and deputy chair in proceedings where the apex court was “judge, plaintiff and the jury” was an attempt to “intimidate state actors and voters,” the party contended.
The dismissals of the EC members two weeks before the elections “affected people’s confidence in the election and resulted in lower voter turnout,” the statement read.
The party called on the international community to maintain “robust engagement” with the government to “ensure Maldives does not backtrack on hard-won freedoms and reforms” since the adoption of a democratic constitution in August 2008.
Concerns over the Supreme Court’s negative impact on the electoral environment have also been expressed by EU and Commonwealth observer teams this week.
“The 7 Feb 2012 coup d’état, legitimised by the CoNI report, ushered in a period of authoritarian rule which continues to this day,” former President Mohamed Nasheed was quoted as saying in the MDP statement.
“We have a situation in which the Supreme Court now feels empowered to sentence the Elections Commission on politically motivated charges only a week before polling day,” he said.
“The Maldives no longer has an effective separation of powers and forces close to the former dictatorship now control all three branches of the state.”
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Government coalition reveals Majlis election plan – Adhaalath excluded- JP defection is no loss to government, says Gayoom
- Political parties remain deadlocked over majlis committee composition
- PPM MP Maseeh elected speaker, MDP MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik deputy speaker
- Coalition leaders urge independent candidates to withdraw
- MDP will not respect separation of powers, says President Yameen
Mr. President, your so-called "golden 30 years" was only golden to a select group of people. This group now includes gansgters like Safaa, who got a get-out-of-jail-free card, and Gayoom family friends like slave master Sun Siyam. Have you no shame? But of course not. You're a Maumoon.
It looks like our regime is playing the game "how much bullshit can we come up with before people stop believing it". At this point I believe the majority would even buy it if Yameen would state the earth is flat.
It is simply self-satisfactory show case by painting picture to show of winning against some ideology He is simply creating MDP imaginary ideology , when in reality; Qayoom is the only person in Maldives who is trying to salvage his Islamic identity which is the only legacy that man has to leave behind. But the time is against him, the world doesn’t care about these old impracticable ideologies anymore and probably this will be erased in the Maldives as well. MDP is a party that is going along with time; it is not an ideology as this moron tells. Yameen also can’t do anything against time and he if wants to survive, he has to follow MDP’s path, It is all freedom and democracy, Malu Divehin also now breath the air of freedom , The course is already set by MDP, to change it, will be simply inviting the chaos . It is true MDP is the founder to get people to run the country and this is the ideology of MDP, and poor Qayoom cannot change it now.
The other reality was all turbulence and disturbance was created by these people when MDP was in power, in the name of an ideology, as MDP has no ideology to defend they will not go on the roads day and night to defend it and the question is who are the trouble makers with some crazy ideas .
During Nasheed time, he tried to make only very selected people to rich and then make others to suffer .
He had ruined the country and then robbed the country 300 times more that what had been stolen pin 30 years.
Country total debt was 300 million in 2008 but it has gone to 1000 million( 1 billion ) in just 3 years when Nasheed left his office in 2011.
This guy had screwed our economy in big time and social fabric had damaged and he use the name of democracy for himself to become famous and robbed this country.
truth is 30 year of Gayyoom regime was 100 times better than Nasheed regime and dictatorship.
For Yameen, so far he has done much better and am sure he will do.
@hero/kuribee
You just copy pasted that didn't you? I swear I have read that same thing at least 20 times now
whether i copy and pasted make no difference.
Your supreme and spiritual leader keep on saying old stuff, As long Nasheed and his propaganda machine keep on saying the same i will make it a point.
No matter what few MDP thugs says, the country had been drag 100 year backward and the debt had gone rocket high in just three years of Nasheed regime.
This fact can not be denied and it will be written in our history for future generation to know what kind of idiot Nasheed was.