The Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) has said it will seek to remove MPs from the People’s Majlis through the Supreme Court, for contempt of court over their challenging of the apex court’s order to delay the second round of presidential polls.
Several MPs of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) have spoken out against a Supreme Court’s order to delay polls in an ongoing case filed by third placed Jumhooree Party (JP) to annul the vote. The court issued a second injunction on Friday ordering the security forces to halt the Elections Commission and other parties from proceeding with polls.
Following the second injunction, the police surrounded the Elections Commission on Friday and forcibly brought preparations for the runoff to a halt. The MDP won 45.45 percent in the first round and was set to compete with the PPM in runoff polls on Saturday.
Speaking to the press today, 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.”
Meanwhile, MDP MPs Alhan Fahmy and Imthiyaz Fahmy received police summons for an investigation into contempt of court. The police told Minivan News more MPs are under investigation, but declined to reveal names.
A police summons sent to Alhan and uploaded on Twitter states the MP is being investigated for “threatening judges and their families and contempt of court at a protest outside the Supreme Court on 23 September 2013.”
PPM’s legal advisor Waheed said the list of MPs they are seeking to disqualify from parliament “is long”. Furthermore, the PPM said it would not hesitate to file complaints against Speaker Abdulla Shahid if he had spoken out against the apex court’s order. Abdulla Shahid defected to the MDP in April.
Waheed also said the PPM believes the Supreme Court should decide who to hand the presidency to should presidential elections fail to take place by the end of the presidential term on November 11.
The MDP and its ally the DRP now control 39 out of 77 seats in the Majlis; a simple majority. The two parties passed a resolution on Monday ordering the EC to proceed with polls as planned, and called for the security forces to support the EC. However, the resolution was ignored in favor of the Supreme Court order.
The MDP has said it will utilise its simple majority to seek no-confidence motions against three ministers and the Prosecutor General.
In a statement on Saturday, the PPM has praised the Supreme Court’s election delay orders as a “giant stride forward in championing the constitutional rights of the Maldivian people.”
PPM contends that the court has sole and final jurisdiction to determine all disputes concerning presidential elections and is the final authority on interpretation of the constitution.
“Members of the MDP are breaking law and order continuously even now and spreading false information among the public, while also misguiding the international community,” the statement read.
The PPM has supported JP’s case to annul the vote, and has filed a separate case to delay polls to allow the party time to campaign.
The MDP has repeatedly criticised the Supreme Court for Justice Ali Hameed’s continued presence on the bench despite the leak of three sex videos in which Hameed appears to be fornicating with three different foreign women in a Colombo hotel room.
The UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, in a damning report in May expressed concern over “inadequate and politicised” composition of the JSC and “shock” that members of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, held memberships in political parties.
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“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."
Oh dear. Another moron speaks. Go on then; try removing an MP, even a single one from Majlis. See how far you get.
The Maldives Supreme Farce (formerly Court), has no credibility, no respect, no standing whatsoever. There's nothing left to defame. They've defamed themselves! There isn't a single Maldivian who doesn't know about Ali Hameed's little orgies with a string of prostitutes in Colombo hotels.
The more brave have seen him doing the equivalent of a male gorilla doing a charade to attract a female - to be honest the gorillas won that contest.
In conclusion, if you want to make an arse of yourself, then no one is going to stop you.
"Waheed also said the PPM believes the Supreme Court should decide who to hand the presidency to should presidential elections fail to take place by the end of the presidential term on November 11."
How very convenient for PPM. So all they have to do between now and November 11 is have the supreme court get rid of the MDP/DRP majority in parliament. Arrest Nasheed for good measure on any b.s. charge they feel like using and "paradise" is back where it started.
Maldives, the "international community" is not going to help you with this. They backed the coup government last time and they'll do it again. PPM doesn't mind playing dirty and that's why they're going to win. Gayoom has the supreme court, military, police and even the beardo weirdo pedophiles. Parliament is the only thing left to go after.
Oh naive native of Addu, if what you say shall come to pass why hasn't it so already?
Let me state the obvious. After a coup, followed by spectacular miscalculations, such as GMR, Visa queues, Aasandha dilution, Arthur Bros scandal, near economic ruin and the Ali Hameed saga which is the cherry on the top - they can still count on their support base of over 50,000 voters. This is an unquestioning fan base indeed.
This sizeable vocal minority will lend them space required to establish a facade of legitimacy. The "court process" continues while MDP organises street protests, playing into their hands. The "rulings" to delegitimise the MDP will take several steps and will be multi pronged "legal" avenues, Islamist propaganda, and old fashioned bribery through patronage. With regular intervals over several weeks, one ruling after another they will rid themselves of these pesky MPs, the "incompetent" EC. They will establish a new EC, announce fresh elections, bar Nahseed from participating etc etc.
The Maldivian people are fickle and easily amused. They do not yet have the maturity to understand the democratic principles for which which they "fight" for regardless of their party affiliations.The outrage on the streets with every transgression will be ever so slightly less than before. The pressure from International organisations will be more easily absorbed as well because all actions will be within the "laws" of the land.
Soon enough the people will resign to their fate of an internationally brokered "truce", meaning a face saving way for the international community to acquiesce, the alternate being having another failed state in their hands.
Ha ha ha ha a a a....
"Waheed also said the PPM believes the Supreme Court should decide who to hand the presidency to should presidential elections fail to take place by the end of the presidential term on November 11."
What the F*ck?! Dudes like this would be flipping burgers in any other country.
@peasant:
Good analysis. Cynical but good.
@peasant on Sun, 29th Sep 2013 11:58 PM
"This sizeable vocal minority will lend them space required to establish a facade of legitimacy."
(1) I understand what you're saying. Peaceful protest by MDP is absolutely fine but what MDP should be careful is not falling into the trap of being reduced to a party of protest. Their opponents key aim now is to curtain the momentum of support MDP gained throughout the country.
(2) The plan is to pre-occupy MDP with protests, whilst their opponents go on campaigning. This has already started. Yameen is out campaigning after spending the last few weeks holed up in his cave.
(3) I agree that Parliament is the only body now out of reach of the crooks. The Supreme Farce is the Ace of Spades that was saved until now and will be used at every single opportunity going forward. Ali Hameed's inexplicable presence there now makes perfect sense.
(4) Yameen's latest campaign speech is all about xenophobia and encouragement of it. Despite what Yameen or PPM thinks foreigners can see through this fiasco. After all, those countries have been hold democratic elections for hundreds of years with populations several orders of magnitude bigger than ours.
(5) There is very little other democratic countries not know about election fraud. They can see the difference between genuine election fraud and the curtailment of democratic principles by force through a discredited judiciary.
(6) In North Korea, the Supreme Court can declare that black is white. Their people would have no choice but to believe that. That's not going to happen in the Maldives.
Peasant is absolutely correct. The international observers can go home. Game over except for the minor scuffles between mdp and police. Which will only help Gayoom in the end.
@peasant: "people will resign to their fate..."
Profoundly worded.
No matter how personally altruistic individuals involved in International Relations may or may not be, limited resource capacity restrains the extent liberal multi-lateral action can be employed. International liberty is restrained through the filter of real-politic (national self-interest) by necessity, not by the personal selfishness of the individuals involved.
Those from Muslim countries understand the hypocritical nature of Western liberal-democratic rhetoric much better than us from the West understand it. That's because, sadly, you guys have felt the sharp end of that knife like hypocrisy more than we have.
I would like to understand more about this concept of fate that peasant has so profoundly mentioned. That may be important in the long run.
“Since mankind's dawn, a handful of oppressors have accepted the responsibility over our lives that we should have accepted for ourselves. By doing so, they took our power. By doing nothing, we gave it away. We've seen where their way leads, through camps and wars, towards the slaughterhouse.” ― V for Vendetta
Just minutes back, Ali hameed's own family member confirmed that it was none other than Ali Hameed. physique and face is same. I quote "thee ehen meeheh noon,hama hameed" as described by the relative who is grew up with Hameed. At this moment, i feel disgust, over his entire family and even wife..why they stand beside such a man who in the name of islamic shariah, democracy; committed such disrespectful acts. why his family is still supporting him despite the black mark he gave the entire blood line and why our police,army and judicial services protect and adhere to such a pig. is his wife under a duress??why has there been no comment or response from them or she? what is happening to this country????
This is a very smart move since PPM knows it will there they will not win the presidential election. Impressive.