The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has said it is lobbying the courts to resume proceedings in the criminal case against opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed.
PPM candidate Abdulla Yameen’s election agent, Abdulla Ameen yesterday (September 30) told local media that it was imperative the judiciary speed up the court cases concerning Nasheed’s criminal prosecution.
Ameen called on the EC to delay the second round of elections until the courts concluded the trial of Nasheed, expressing fears that the public may otherwise begin to question the credibility of the elections.
Nasheed was charged by the prosecutor general for his involvement in the controversial detention of Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed, during the final days of his presidency.
The case is currently suspended after Nasheed’s legal counsel challenged the legitimacy of the appointment of the judges-panel to Hulhumale Magistrates Court, where the trial is being heard.
During a PPM rally held on Monday evening PPM MP Ahmed Shareef claimed that, once the party finished its work, the MDP would be dissolved, would cease to exist as a political party, and that Nasheed’s name would not be in the ballot paper.
The PPM MP also claimed that the 95,224 votes which Nasheed had obtained in the first round were achieved “through fraud and deception”.
“The maximum vote that man will ever get is 50,000 -60,000. That is even if they work extremely hard. [Extremely hard work such as] deceiving the people, brain washing them and misleading the youth,” Shareef told the rally.
Meanwhile, PPM running mate Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed told the rally that the Maldives would not have any stability if there is a presidential election with Nasheed competing as a candidate.
Jameel claimed that Nasheed had treated the Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in “such an inhumane and derogatory manner” when the only wrong he had committed was to “faithfully execute his responsibilities as a judge”.
The former home minister also said that the judges who had purposefully been delaying the former president’s trial should take responsibility for the current state of the country.
Jameel previously said that the MDP leader “will not be allowed to assume power”, even if he should emerge as the clear winner in the run-off election.
Election drama
The official results of the first round of Presidential Elections – held on September 7 – showed the MDP finishing the race in front with 45.45 percent of the popular vote, while former 30 year autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s PPM trailed behind with 25.35 percent of the popular vote.
The constitution dictates that if no candidate attains the required ’50 percent plus one vote’ for a first round election victory, the winner is decided by a run-off election held 21 days after the first poll.
However, resort tycoon Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (JP) – who narrowly missed a place in the run-off elections after finishing the poll in the third position with 24.07 percent – filed a Supreme Court case requesting the court annul the poll, alleging voting discrepancies and irregularities.
On September 23, the Supreme Court issued an injunction indefinitely delaying the second round of the presidential election until it had finished looking into alleged discrepancies from the first round.
In addition to challenging the validity of the presidential elections, the PPM last Sunday announced its intention to file Supreme Court cases against individual opposition MPs, including Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid, in a bid to challenge their legitimacy as members of parliament.
The announcement comes at a time when the PPM and its allies have lost the parliamentary majority to the opposition MDP after the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) – with eight MPs in parliament – decided to back the MDP in the presidential polls.
Speaking to the press, PPM’s legal advisor Mohamed Waheed Ibrahim said, “There is a dispute on whether [MPs] have lost their seats in parliament due to speaking out against Maldives’ Supreme Court’s order and defaming the Supreme Court, and other court’s judges. I would like to inform you we will file this case at the Supreme Court.”
The MDP and its new ally the DRP now control 39 out of 77 seats in the parliament – a simple majority. The two parties last week passed a resolution ordering the EC to proceed with polls as planned, and called for the security forces to support the EC.
The resolution, however, was ignored in favour of the Supreme Court order.
However, following a second Supreme Court order – calling upon the security services up uphold the injunction – police surrounded the EC secretariat. The EC soon announced prompting the EC to announce that current conditions were not conducive to a free and fair election.
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"Jameel had previously said that that the MDP leader “will not be allowed to assume power”, even if he should emerge as the clear winner in the run-off election."
And so the verdict has been made and the supreme commander, Gayoom, is on path to regain his grip of power. That is called third-world democracy.
The opposition groups know for certain that Nasheed has the public majority, and however long the delay, he would surely come out victorious with a healthy margin. This scares them to death as MDP continues to get stronger on the streets as well as majority in parliament.
The conspirators including the judiciary have no more options left, but two.
1) Make sure Nasheed is 6ft below dusty ground.
Apparently, such a move could cause enthic and civil violence never seen before, and the world would know who did it.
2) Make sure Nasheed is behind bars probably before Nov.11th.
Well, authorities seem to have a case or cases against him which were put on hold when India intervened.
We shouldn't forget the opposition have the judiciary and much of of the police and MNDF with them. It is possible to ask for fresh elections, change of Election commission, and handling of ballot boxes by security. In this way they can and will easily win the elections. We all know how..
I wish we could all take a minute and think of the reasons for the havoc we have today regarding 1st round elections. What are the motives of the opposition, judiciary and the rich who control the economy? What has Nasheed done that he doesn't deserve to serve the country, or what will Nasheed do if he takes power?
Think out of the box. Think the future, the generations to come. What happens today is shaping the future....so far, a horrible future!
I personally believe Nasheed should be allowed to compete in the election - We cannot just ignore the significant support base he controls - but I also believe that he has committed serious criminal activities that he has to answer at some stage.
Uh oh, PPM finally admits defeat! This is the last straw knowing that there's no way they can beat MDP and Nasheed in free and fair elections!
With a Supreme Court manned by adulterers it surely is a piece of cake to have whatever PPM wants passed through that sh*t house.
Nasheed's only crime is making a stand against child abuser ablho and disrupting the production and sale of child pornography.
It is a crime that PPM will never forgive him for.
first of all the courts should put the 30 year old repressive regime on trail for putting a nation in fear for so long, besides alleged murder and extortion of public funds. the fear created had destroyed creative power and aspirations of generations. perhaps it would be more appropriate to call living without fear of the regime rather than mdp sports and recreation slogan 'having fun without fear'.the criminal court judge had released alleged drug lords and murderers. one such a murder had apparently killed an innocent youth when released by this judge. so it is incumbent on authorities to detain this judge for public safety.
Another crime by Nasheed's government was that they put their own countryman to many years in prison for having Christian materials. This news was covered up and not even reported in the local news.