Additional reporting by Zaheena Rasheed and Mariyath Mohamed
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has declared it will hold continuous protests after the Supreme Court’s sudden decision on Monday (September 23) evening to indefinitely postpone the second round of the presidential election.
The Supreme Court’s controversial injunction came just hours after parliament passed a resolution calling on all state institutions to ensure that the second round of the presidential election be held as scheduled.
Scattered protests involving hundreds of people erupted across the capital city of Male’ after the MDP’s National Council unanimously supported a motion calling for demonstrations until the Supreme Court allowed the elections to proceed.
During the meeting, MDP presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed, who obtained 45.45 percent of the votes in the first round of polling on September 7, urged the Elections Commission (EC) to disregard the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of parliament’s resolution and continue with election preparations.
“The Chief Justice has to find a solution. I call on the Chief Justice to uphold his duties,” Nasheed said, asking police to support the EC and the military “to keep us safe”.
Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid confirmed to Minivan News that he was pepper sprayed by police while several MDP MPs, including Ali Azim and Mohamed ‘Bonda’ Rasheed, were reportedly taken away by police. Rasheed was reportedly released while Azim was taken into police custody.
Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef could not confirm the number of arrests, whether pepper spray was used, or provide further details at time of press.
Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem confirmed to Minivan News that military personnel had been deployed around the military’s headquarters following the Supreme Court’s election injunction, in line with “standard procedure”.
Demonstrators initially tried to enter Republic Square before being pushed back by a dozen police and being barricaded near Fareedhee Magu. Minivan News observed a small number of police equipped with riot gear on standby nearby.
A group protesters were observed hanging a large pair of white underpants on a police barricade, a reference to recently-leaked videos of Supreme Court judge Ali Hameed apparently fornicating with unidentified foreign women in a Colombo hotel room.
“This is not acceptable. The people’s voice cannot be blatantly rejected by four disgraced judges,” said 33 year-old Ahmed Thahseen, a demonstrator near Fareedhee Magu.
“I’m not going home until the Supreme Court gives a ruling and lets people have the due election,” 23 year-old protester Aishath Shaffa told Minivan News.
“Let’s see how that disgrace of a politican Gasim runs his businesses when the electorate goes on strike. The people are what matters. We are everything and the Supreme Court Needs to realise that,” said 52 year-old protester Fathimath Shareefa.
“The Supreme Court order is an absolutely unacceptable act. After all the work we have done, the protests, the campaigns, we won’t watch it all go to waste,” said Ahmed ‘Gahaa’ Saeed, the MDP’s member on the Commission of National Inquiry (CONI), who joined the protesters.
“If you look at all the statements given at CONI which have since been leaked, you will see the injustice that people have faced. We are being pushed back to square one all over again and the people refuse to sit back and take it,” he added. “We are here filled with hope. There is another force and I believe truth will prevail.”
The controversial injunction
Jumhooree Party (JP) presidential candidate and resort tycoon, Gasim Ibrahim, initially filed a case in the Supreme Court seeking annulment of the election results after he narrowly missed a place in the run-off with 24.07 percent of the vote, declaring at a rally that “God Willing, Gasim will be President on November 11″.
The case was intervened by the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and Attorney General Azima Shukoor, both of which sided against the Elections Commission.
The EC has defended itself arguing that not only had the JP had failed to substantiate or give the specifics of any evidence of fraudulent voting submitted against it, but even if this evidence were to be proven beyond reasonable doubt it was still insufficient to affect the outcome of the first round of election results.
The commission also pointed to unanimous positive assessments of the first round polls by local and international election observers, including the Commonwealth, US, UN, and Transparency Maldives.
In response President Mohamed Waheed’s government called on international groups to “help, not hinder the state institutions in exercising their constitutional duties”, while JP running mate and lawyer Dr Hassan Saeed declared in court that election observers “do not carry much weight”.
Monday evening’s sudden injunction stated that it had been discussed by all judges on the seven member bench, before being signed by Justice Abdulla Saeed, Justice Ali Hameed Mohamed, Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla, and Justice Dr Abdulla Didi.
“Based on Article 144 (b), we order the Elections Commission and other relevant state institutions to delay the second round of the presidential election scheduled for 28 September 2013 until the Supreme Court issues a verdict in this case,” read the Supreme Court order.
Lawyer for the Elections Commission, former Attorney General Husnu al Suood, tweeted that the interim order by the Supreme Court “has no legal basis, and violates the constitution.”
MDP lawyer Hissan Hussein also said the Supreme Court’s order was unconstitutional, stating that the article 144 (b) it had invoked concerned the Supreme Court’s capacity to delay lower court verdicts, not elections.
Meanwhile, article 111(a) of the constitution stipulates “that a President shall be elected by over fifty percent of the votes. If no candidate obtains such majority, a run-off election must be held within twenty one days after the first election.”
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The MalDeviant Democratic Party are flouting democratic norms by trying to threaten our judiciary into facilitating the political ambitions of laadheenee Nasheed.
Nasheed should know that the judiciary does not exist to pay obesiance to him but rather, it exists to serve the people - and the people demand that the serious issues pertinent to the vote counting in the first round of voting be resolved before we let this farce continue.
The dregs of the dictatorship and their corrupt cronies have really gone too far this time!!!
This bench is infested with Islamist thugs groomed by Gayoon, the likes of you included. This is their demise. Mark my words Dhivehi Hanguraama!
@Dhivehi Hanguraama on Tue, 24th Sep 2013 2:22 AM
"democratic norms by trying to threaten our judiciary into facilitating the political ambitions of laadheenee Nasheed."
A million monkeys with typewriters couldn't have written something more meaningless. Did you just randomly string words in that sentence?
"democratic norms", maldivian "judiciary" and "laadheenee" must have been randomly permuted with other words that you know.
(1) The maldivian judiciary is a disgrace. Democratic norms are not something they've heard of.
(2) Is the Supreme Court bench "dheenee" (to borrow from your "laadheenee")? How about Ali Hameed? How does his "dheen" stack up against Nasheed and the rest of us?
I may say something cheesy like glass houses and stones but I will refrain.
Why don't EC rule that Nasheed, Gasim, Yameen and Waheedh are irrelevant. Vote Ali Hameed for president 2013.
~ 90,0000 votes >>> 1 Jangiyaa, 3 hookers & a pimp
@Dhivehi Hanguraama maybe you need to get your head out of your ass and think. The supreme court can't override the constitution, and a judge who was caught on tape fornicating with three women can't sit on that bench and pass judgement as his master Tycoon Gasim wishes, because this master saved him from being thrown out of the bench.
The supreme court is a disgrace to the country and people's right to choose their leader by casting their votes should be respected at all times. First round Elections was declared free and fair by both local and international observers.
Once upon a time in Maldives in the year 2012 on 7th February there was a coup... and to uphold the interests of the coup perpetrators they made a pledge to do whatever it takes to safeguard the coup and its supporters. Stuff for blockbuster movies.
I see Dhivehi Hangyourmama is still around. I thought this retard had been kidnapped by the Taliban and was languishing in some dungeon in Old Peshawar.....sadly not.
I am watching the tamasha of your so called 'Democratic Elections'.....fast becoming a farce.
How is it that with an electorate of 1200,000,000 we Indians can conduct our elections smoothly and you screw up yours with an electorate of only 250,000?
Is there ANYTHING, ANYTHING AT ALL that is conducted smoothly and efficiently in the Maldives?
This is a game of corrupt vs corrupt.
Corrupt judges and perhaps a compromised elections commission on one side (ppm) vs corrupt politicians from Gayooms regime and GMR influence on the front line of MDP
Checkmate ?
The international community must now intervene to avoid a civil war. This is actually quite good in the sense that the corruption from Gasim, the judges and the PPM is now so blatant and clear that this may be the start of the end for them. They have cut their own throats. No one can pretend it is anything else.
Would be hilarious when Gov. supporters fantasize they can mimic Singapore, were it not for the sad fact they are delusional enough to actually believe it to be possible.
The Chinese Singaporeans would be in fits of laughter at the thought.
Although brutal, Lee Kuan Yew and his whole team were supremely self disciplined, above greed and corruption. The Singaporean ideal amalgamates the prudence of Confucian Piety with the protocols of the noblest of High British culture, Lee Kuan Yew a student of both.
Compare and contrast the personal discipline and level of corruption between Lee Kuan Yew and Yameen, for example.
Now imagine what would happen when Yameen takes absolute power through brutal force in the name of creating an orderly society like Singapore.
Can such idiots be just and deliver fair justice? The mad bench is against all the facts. They hold the whole nation hijacked to make happy a losing party when there is no credible bodies disputed about the transparency of election except those who want make the election invalid at any cost. I don’t condone violence but I think this people should face the same fate like Qazzafi and Saddam Husaain. Hope to see a day that these people are dragged on the road naked and sodomized
when u open your mouth and loudly say 90,000 votes, mind that you forgot the 100,000+ votes that didn't want Nasheed
@ MssIndia NewDelhi.
Indian Observers praised the Maldives TOO MUCH and this has become suspicious in the aftermath of GMR !!!! See the root cause..
'ZEE NEWS said 'MALDIVES ELECTIONS CONDUCTED IN VERY ORDERLY MANNER '
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/maldives-polls-conducted-in-orderly-manner-say-indian-observers_875273.html
Islamic militants had taken over a prominent shopping mall in Kenya. Several lives were lost, just because these wanna-go-first-class-to-heaven Muslims thought its a good idea.
Here we have a similar situation. Minus the guns of course. Imran backed Qasim thinks he can lead all Maldivians to heaven, in his airplane. Imran sees this as his god-assigned-job to drag all Maldivians to heaven.
The pig from Morocco has cursed us! from the moment he landed in Maldives, a few centuries ago. Damn you! Why can't these Arabs just be content with destruction of their own country!
What "Ann" forgets is that this illegitimate court ruling tramples upon the rights of EVERYONE who voted. Not just the 45% of people who voted for MDP.
Eh, that's what propaganda mouthpieces they're paid to - to distract people from the truth.
90000 votes at 1st round after all is a myth to be proved soon. Dead bodies cannot cast the votes in election and neither observers can see them. Those are only inside jobs, MDP has stolen the election and now they cannot win it again.
Two things:
(1) February 7th 2012 saw the stabbing of democracy in the Maldives. The police and military helped to throw out an elected government. The military wing of JP was seen in action. In fact it was the Naval section of the JP military wing (Villa boats) that was the most prominent.
(2) September 23rd 2013 saw the murder of democracy through the Supreme Court. Gasim's boy Ali Hameed who, despite having s*x with 3 prostitutes (at least) in one day (!) continues to sit on the Supreme Court. The reason is now crystal clear.
Look at the actors in the two cases. The unholy alliance that brought about (1) is once again at it, now with the help of a disgraced bench of the Supreme Court.
If this is in the name of Islam, then it's high time the real Muslims came forward to save the nation. After all, those who've had s*x with 3 prostitutes in a day are hardly fit to fight a Jihad!
@ MissIndia.
70% of your population do not know what they are voting for where 100% of population knows what we are voting for.
This is the difference.
i don't have confedence to anni because his coward & incompetent to run the country as a president but i must admit it's inevitable that anni will be president again. this other presidentiable should accept it & what they can do is to support anni's program to lift up the maldives again and not to pull him down sacrificing the nation & citizens chance of standing up for better future. respect the majority peoples choice & stop the crab mentality.
I pray there can be a way to freedom from fear for the Dhivehin without any further pain to any one single Maldivian! If only there could occur a miracle in the heart of the leaders, to help them to see their own people the way Allah sees them, as people made in the Divine Image and therefore, sacred.
May the tyrants forsake their will to absolute power so that that the naturally artistic, poetic spirit of the Dhivehin is no longer completely broken by fear.
All of the words of hate, all of the actions of rage, are born from fear.
I know I would never mention Yamin, or Maumoon, or any body ever again, if I no longer feared them. Most people - I am sure, feel the same.
We have no confidence in the Supreme Court with
Corrupt judges. And what is Dr Jameel talking about. It's not only MDP votes PPM votes also can be affected. How can MDP steal votes.
@ facts
Bearing in mind your recent political history.....30 years of dictatorship followed by a very brief period of democracy followed by a police led coup.....you are talking garbage as usual.
Indians with a history of stable democracy since independence 66 years ago should be the last people you should be preaching to dimwit.
The arrogance of you primitive islanders is truly astonishing.....you should be preaching instead to your sunni brothers in Terrorist with whom you have so much in common its uncanny.
My views of Maldivians remain unchanged, short, fat and dim....the operative word being DIM.
This has just gone too far. This is beginning to look like a scene straight out of the film Borat!
Suood along with other MDP lawyers have been suspended and now cannot take part in this case! The reason for Suood's suspension is apparently Suood has circulated material on social media that'd discredit the Supreme Court!
What the f**! That shit bag, Ali F**ing Hameed stinks of prostitutes, but he upholds the "karaamath" of the Supreme Court? You must be f**ing joking!
@ Miss India NewDelhi with Love.
'violence ahead of Indian Election'
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/41330ca2-210e-11e3-8aff-00144feab7de.html
f!@# all maldives fight among yourself,victory to gayoom family