The Supreme Court opened at midnight on Thursday to issue a ruling ordering the Elections Commission (EC) to restart the entire elections re-registration process.
“[The Supreme Court] orders the Elections Commission to start anew the process of compiling the voter registry and abide by the Supreme Court guidelines in the re-registration process for those who individuals who wish to vote in a location other than their place of domicile, and start anew re-registration process according to new procedures, disregarding previous re-registration,” read a verdict posted on the Supreme Court’s website.
The court also ordered the Elections Commission to give candidates the choice whether to stay on the ballot paper or withdraw from the election, contrary to the EC’s previous announcement.
“Elections Commission’s announcements (A) EA-2013/539 and (A) EA-2013/540 [concerning the re-registration process] contravene the guidelines put forth in the Supreme Court Verdict no 2013/SC-C/42,” read the ruling, signed by Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz.
“The Elections Commission must without further justifications proceed according to the guidelines put forth in the Supreme Court Verdict no 2013/SC-C/42,” the ruling stated.
The PPM today sought an order at the Supreme Court blocking Nasheed’s legitimacy to contest the election on the grounds of his criticising the judiciary and being “irreligious”, although this appeared to split the party, with State Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon declaring it was “not the right time”.
According to local media, the PPM also requested the court order the annulment of the voters’ list used in the first round on September 7, threatening that the party would not accept the result if the existing list was used. Prior to the first round, the PPM had called on the Elections Commission to make the voter registration process “more lenient”, requesting the EC not to reject voter registration forms missing details such as the name of a voter’s parents or a phone number, that could not be verified during random checks.
The 17 member Commonwealth election observation team in particular praised the final voter registry, describing it as “accurate and robust”.
“Fears expressed by some political parties regarding possible large numbers of deceased voters and voters registered in the wrong geographic area seem to be unfounded, based on the low incidence of election day complaints,” said the group’s head, former Prime Minister of Malta Dr Lawrence Gonzi.
The verdict
In its verdict on the Jumhooree Party’s case annulling the first round of the election, the court ordered the EC to hold an election by October 20, requiring the commission to prepare for polls as the government shuts down for the Eid al-Adha break.
The EC scheduled the election for Saturday October 19, sending the ballots for printing on October 9 and opening the list on October 10 for re-registration.
In a statement on October 9, Transparency Maldives noted that the Elections Commission had yet to receive the details of the Supreme Court verdict regarding the supposed discrepancies noted in the secret police report, between the voter registry and voting records (such as the claimed ID card number mismatches, permanent address mismatches, and name mismatches).
The Supreme Court’s majority ruling this week to annul the first round contradicted the positive assessments of more than a thousand local and international election observers, and hinged on a confidential police report submitted to the court claiming that 5623 votes were ineligible.
The report has not been made public and the legal counsel of the Elections Commission was never given the opportunity to present a counter argument.
In the majority verdict, Supreme Court Judge Dr Ahmed Abdulla Didi also declared that if a new president was unable to be sworn in on conclusion of the presidential term on November 11, the “principle of continuity of legitimate government would override any repercussions faced by failure to adhere to constitutional deadlines.”
The latest Supreme Court ruling follows a statement from UK Foreign Secretary William Hague stating that “It is imperative that there are no further delays and the elections be free, fair and inclusive, and that international observers are invited.”
“ It is important now that the democratic process proceeds in accordance with the Constitution,” Hague stated, calling on presidential candidates to respect the democratic process “and create conditions for free, fair elections.”
PPM MP Ahmed Nihan told Minivan News that he believed the latest order would mean additional delays to the voting, currently scheduled for October 19.
With growing international pressure for voting to take place without further delay, Nihan claimed that the party believed that the 24 hours for re-registration provided by the EC would have been a “disaster” for the election.
“Even here in Male’ no one was aware of what was going on [regarding re-registration],” he said, adding that the occasion of the Eid holidays had meant voters were expected to be more likely to want to vote on different islands from where they were registered: “I am sure it is important to let everyone else have the right to vote in free and fair elections. The verdict clearly says the EC has to perform within guidelines,” he said.
Nihan claimed the views of various international groups such as the UN and Commonwealth reflected the MDP’s stronger connections with foreign governments, whom he accused of believing the views of the opposition party without listening to others.
“The international community are champions of democracy and we have to thank them for efforts to spread it throughout all corners of the globe,” he said. “However, the EU and Commonwealth must make sure they are getting the proper and full information from all sides including the government and opposition as well.”
Meanwhile earlier today Sun Online reported that one of the five EC members, Ogaru Ibrahim Waheed, had suddenly resigned.
According to Sun no reason was given, although ongoing death threats received by the Elections Commission (EC)’s permanent staff and polling station officials have prompted the commission to file a report with the Maldives Police Service (MPS).
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This is the beginning of the end. That is the end of PPM. May Allah save the Maldives from PPM and its Munafiqs.
Now the death threats to stay in power along with every other dirty trick...
The Supreme Court is obviously taking bribes. Two disruptions to the election process in a week shows they are holding onto power by any means possible. Shame on Gayoom and Company for this travesty which could very well cause mass violence in peaceful Maldives.
The world is watching. We know the players. Elections are to be taken seriously. This won't stand.
This is the beginning of the end for the corrupt judiciary too, Inshallah. The SC is now really annoying and frustrating average citizens, waiting for their right to vote. Things have gone too far now.
Is Nihan a moron? The international community has based their views on the local and international election observers who have deemed the election free and fair.
PPM is going to pay for this dearly, watch your voter base fall away dramatically. Citizens will not stay home forever watching you guys play around with our right to vote and elect our own leader.
PPM know that they are not going to win this election and are trying to hijack the election through their puppet SC.
The problem is the vredict did not say to arrange the election all over, but to arrange voting again. For me the most confusing is CJ who dissented to the verdict comes up with the new order!
PPM and SC are the same evil people = the old mans dictatorship!
As for Gasim, he is just a corrupt selfish man of below average intelligence.
The world can now see that the PPM, SC & Gasim are the same and are MORALLY BANKRUPT!
@guddi on Fri, 11th Oct 2013 10:32 AM ,
guddi,
Let me help clear your confusion. You are confused because you base your thoughts on the premise that the Supreme Court represents the citizens of this country. They actually represent the old codger our great Pharoah and his family, now do you see the logic of their actions?
It is good thing though, the people of this country need a lesson in democracy. A lesson they will learn after a terrible price is paid. The PPM is here to exact this price.
You heard loud and clear what our running mate Jameel said. No power transfer to Nasheed even if he wins in a landslide. You heard loud and clear what Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed said. He will do whatever Yamin tells him to do. Now we have realized the fact that we can't win with votes so we have decided to win with courts. We don't care about international community. We all know it will take years for them to decide to take whatever action they want to take against us and we will slowly comply and by the time they are in a position to apply sanctions against us, believe me it will be by like 2018. We will use our good Courts to try and imprison the EC commissioner also. We shall burn, kill or buy or do whatever necessary to be in power in Maldives. We warn India to keep their hands off Maldives. Otherwise they will have to dear
L with not Maldives but China who are stronger bigger and richer. Ha ha ha
Hear ye, delay for me. Hear ye, its all so Supreme. Hear ye, delay for me. I am The Supreme, hear ye.
May all of the cheese go on the EC. It’s not my fault that I am The Supreme. It's the EC that is being so mean. For all of your voting I am so keen.
But you must see that I am also Supreme. A vote for me is a vote for The Supreme. The Supreme wants your vote when you are voting for me. Hear ye, hear ye.
I am 100% confident that even IF an election does take place on the 19th, when the results do not go the way PPM or JP wants, they'll be in the Courts on the 20th.
Given the "verdict" from the criminals in the Supreme Court, there are various ways they can use that to nit pick on the election. That "verdict" was designed to make it impossible to hold an election in the near future!
Yep, (maybe) elections on the 19th, back at the Supreme Court on the 20th.
This is how it will unfold, landslide victory Nasheed, supreme court over rules and declares the election corrupted. The End !
These scumbags will not give in wake up !
This is a victory for the democratic process. The people don't pay the members of the Election Commission to sit at their desks and fiddle with their suits.
The Supreme Court is insisting that the elections commission be diligent and rigorous in overseeing our elections, which is an eminently reasonable expectation.
The fact that Fuad Thawfeeq is complaining about the time frame allotted only speaks to his own laziness and lack of time-management skills. For shame.
I suggest that Mr.Thawfeeq emulate our esteemed justices and take the office that our citizens have entrusted him with and our democratic institutions more seriously.
Nonsense. This is a pathetic attempt at hijacking, not a victory of the democratic process: sorry to differ with the rather superficial assessment in the comment above. And if you are talking about laziness on the part of the EC - there is absolutely no evidence of that, on the contrary in fact: they are to absolutely applauded not threatened with death. On the other hand there is plenty of evidence of a gang of thieves who are now getting even lazier and slobbier in that they can't even be bothered to cover up the dodginess of their tactics. Or maybe they have just run out of their (limited) brainpower. Brute force is usually accompanied by some sort of cunning -but signs of intelligent life seem rather low of late in the PPM et al. We are now down to the mere struggle for survival.It has come to that, you sad sad bunch. Soon you will be back with the plankton and good luck to you. Sooner or later (hopefully the former) you will be history.
@Dhivehi Hanguraama on Fri, 11th Oct 2013 3:09 PM
"I suggest that Mr.Thawfeeq emulate our esteemed justices..."
There we are. Our learned scholar has suggested that
(1) The EC commissioner book the next flight to Colombo (or Bangkok or elsewhere) and pay for as many prostitutes he can on one day, slap his belly and snap the underwear in a pre-mating ritual and then engage in fornication, thus emulating the "esteemed justices".
(2) Some of the "esteemed justices" in question have been found to have committed Zina and need to be sentenced to death by stoning as per Islamic Sharia. However, our learned one continues to ignore this.
As the following article shows, video evidence is perfectly legal to prove Zina:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i_DprbzNwiZt_SHoi3yqoi1hqDdw
Suvadheeb,
Iran follows Shia madh'abs of jurisprudence which the four proper Sunni madh'abs of fiqh believe to be inadequate.
Videos can be doctored to create illusions and to cast aspersions on men. They also rely on newfangled technology which are extremely recent inventions not in use at the time of Rasool Allah.
Thus to admit them as evidence would be bid'ah, plain and simple. Such innovation - and, in all honesty, such technology - would be against the spirit of the simple and pious democracy that the decent men of this country have been striving tirelessly to achieve.
@Dhivehi Hanguraama on Fri, 11th Oct 2013 5:57 PM
"Iran follows Shia madh’abs of jurisprudence which the four proper Sunni madh’abs of fiqh believe to be inadequate."
Just halt there. You are now going completely against your former reverence of the Grand Ayatullah Khomeini. Shall we refresh your mind on what you said before:
"The Ayatullah Khomeini, may his name ever be praised, teaches us that to send a woman to the Majlis is no better than prostitution:"
http://minivannewsarchive.com/politics/us-awards-aneesa-ahmed-international-woman-of-courage-award-33004
You can't have your cake and eat it too, if you get the drift! You have now conveniently sidelined your formerly revered Shia folk, because at the present time, your support for certain political ideologies do not fit that.
May Allah show you the right path and the ways of the pious and may He send a sign of damnation to Ali Hameeed and men of his ilk.
Yes, yes. Let your judges fornicate. You 'religious hypocrite' swine will make for excellent vectors for the HIV-B virus.