Following the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) win in Malé and Addu cities, former President Mohamed Nasheed has predicted an MDP majority in parliamentary elections scheduled for March and threatened to impeach President Abdulla Yameen.
MDP appears to have won all six of the local government seats in Addu City and eight of the 11 Malé City seats. Results for the remaining 1083 island and atoll council seats are rolling in.
Speaking at a press conference tonight, Nasheed predicted the MDP will win approximately 700 of the 1100 local government seats and said he believed the Maldivian citizens continued to hope for an MDP administration.
“The Maldivian citizens still want an MDP government, and for Maldives to be ruled according to MDP’s philosophy. I would like to tell the Maldivian public, do not be disheartened. God willing, without much delay, we will take over the government,” he said.
Nasheed had lost November’s controversial presidential elections narrowly, winning 48.61 percent of the vote (105,181) to Yameen’s 51.39 percent (111,203) – a difference of just 6,022 votes.
The 2013 presidential elections were marred with repeated and controversial delays after the Supreme Court annulled a widely commended first round of polls.
The apex court then imposed a 16-point electoral guidelines on the Elections Commission (EC), which critics say limit the independent commission’s authority to administer elections and allow political parties and candidates to veto elections.
Nasheed’s threat of impeachment comes after allegations of electoral fraud involving fake national identity cards in the presidential polls.
Elaborating further tonight, Nasheed said: “There are many ways to legally change a government. One of them is through the People’s Majlis. I believe the local council elections indicate the direction the People’s Majlis will go. I believe Maldivians want an MDP majority in the country, and an MDP government in the country.”
“The laws state two methods for changing a government. That is through an election or through a no confidence vote followed by an election. If the Maldivian citizens give us a majority in parliament, then we will be forced to take that no confidence vote,” he continued.
Earlier today, Nasheed said the non-existent voters had been added to the voter registry as part of “efforts to rig the election through the Supreme Court.”
The Supreme Court’s guideline included a clause ordering the EC to discard its voter registry and compile a new list based on the Home Ministry’s Department of National Registration’s (DNR) database.
Speaking to the media this afternoon, Nasheed said the DNR’s list contained hundreds of eligible voters without photos.
“We suspect very strongly that those without photos are non-existent people. However, they voted in the presidential election,” Nasheed said.
EC President Fuwad Thowfeek told parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee on Thursday (January 16) that the first list with ID card photos provided by the DNR was missing photos of more than 5,400 people.
However, the DNR provided photos of about 4,000 voters two weeks ago, Thowfeek told MPs, which left the final voter lists without the photos of 1,176 people.
Asked if photos could have been repeated in the DNR list, Thowfeek said the EC could not check and verify the information.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Supreme Court election guidelines will constrain local council polls: EC- Majlis shutdown to ‘block changes to new penal code’
- Comment: In Jameel’s defense
- Human Rights Commission concerned over delay in PG appointment
- Supreme Court invalidates Thasmeen’s Majlis membership challenge
- MDP primaries restart after cancellation of disorganised first poll
This is an outrageous affront to our democratic values which his excellency, Yamin Abdul Qayoom, has worked tireless to introduce into our country and has always rigorously adhered to. Let his efforts not be in vain.
Mordisians do deserve a rest from politics.
politics is not the only thing going on in Mordis.
Nice try Nasheed.
Maldivians have lost faith in the local governance system.
In islands what these councillors do is they come in and sign at 10:00 in the morning that they have attended office at 8:00. Then they go fishing, or doing their own business shop, or goto home and sleep. Rarely do any of this councillors stay in office until office hours end. Then at night around 11:30 councillor comes and signs out saying they have worked. This is how it is happening in most islands. They get excessive amounts of overtime. Due to this island councils budget is used up every year by paying their corrupt councillors overtime. And when the islands budgets are used up by paying 6 island councillors overtime, they hold a press conference saying this Govt is halting the progress of this island, there is no money. When the reality is that most islands budgets are used up to pay the councillors overtime !
In Male' too you can see the corruption of the MDP councillors. They have given away big plots of land to their friends and MDP activists under the disguise of development. The councillors were given the responsibility of managing waste management, parks, fishmarket but what they did was shift these responsibility's onto another company with the state having to pay the company. Councillors just sit in their airconditioned rooms and fart all day.
Most of these Male' councillors do not even have O-level educational qualifications !, and are too stupid to understand even written dhivehi agreements (Trust me i have worked with them, their illiteracy is of the level that will make a grade 1 student laugh). And their corruption level is profound. COnsider old baa injeenuge park given to their friend MDP activist business, under the disguise of park development. First they took half the park and made a restaurent. Then they took another part of the restaurent and made a labourers quarters. Then they further took parks land to make a shop. Finally they took the nearby road too. And when the stupid MDP councillors were questioned in the news the councillor just said "This is just how it was planned ! , they are not doing anything we havent given them permission ! "
Sad thing is, any MDP person when questioned, will not even believe this is going on. Or will deny this is occurring, even when the truth is in their faces.