The Jumhooree Party (JP) has joined the Progressive Party of the Maldives’ (PPM) in refusing to approve the presidential election’s voter registry, narrowing the chances for elections to proceed as planned tomorrow (October 19).
Speaking to the press this evening, JP presidential candidate and resort tycoon Gasim Ibrahim questioned the accuracy of the voter registry, the security of the Election Commission’s (EC) database, and said the party requires at least two days to check and approve the revised registry.
“If an election is held tomorrow in violation of the Supreme Court ruling, it is without doubt an unlawful election. We cannot give space for such an election. And how can we support such an election?” Gasim said.
On October 7, Supreme Court annulled the first round of presidential elections held on September 7 after the JP filed a complaint alleging widespread electoral fraud.
“Who, which Maldivian, would accept an election in which the voter registry is tampered with? And in which place do things happen like this?” he said today.
The JP had narrowly placed third with 24.07 percent of the vote – only 2677 votes behind second placed PPM’s Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
The Supreme Court gave the EC a 12-day time limit to hold a re-vote, and delineated 16 guidelines which including compiling a new voter registry, a new re-registration process, and approval of the voter registry by all candidates contesting in the election.
PPM and JP representatives failed to turn up at the EC to approve the voter registry this morning. The EC said it has called, texted, and sent officials to individual’s houses but had received no answer.
According to the EC, the JP had said the party would sign the registry when the commission presented a hard copy of the final voter list and verified five percent of over 70,000 re-registration forms.
The EC has also said the verification of re-registration forms is “impossible” as the commission does not have the capacity or time to do so. The Maldives Police Services had previously said that crosschecking a single fingerprint required five minutes.
The re-registration forms have fingerprints of four different people – the voter, two witnesses and the bearer who submitted the form to the EC.
The Supreme Court guidelines do not say what the EC must do should candidates refuse to approve list.
Gasim said the EC must go to the Supreme Court to find a solution if the commission was unable to hold elections in the specified time limit, while the EC has said it will proceed with elections if all parties have signed the registry before polling booths open at 7:30am tomorrow.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Department of National Registration (DNR) and EC officials are currently at the EC offices to approve the lists.
Two days to check the register
Speaking to local media, Gasim’s representative to the EC Umar Naseer said the JP had received the final voter registry at 4:03 pm today, but said the party required two days to check and approve the voter registry.
“Even though we have received the list, we need at least two days to check the list. We will physically check the list. We will go to the houses of 100 people on the list and check if they are in their houses, and if they are not, we will verify if they indeed live in those houses. We will use our campaign offices in the islands to do that,” Naseer told Sun Online.
Naseer also said the party is concerned over the security of the EC database. JP MP Riyaz Rasheed had previously alleged that rival Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was accessing the EC’s servers and changing the registration status of voters.
The PPM has also said the party would not sign the voter registry unless the list is free of any errors. The party claims the EC had failed to respond to “numerous complaints and concerns.”
“We will not sign a bundle of papers held out to us by the Elections Commission (EC) without having seen for ourselves what exactly is in them,” PPM Deputy Leader and MP Abdulla Abdul Raheem stated at a press conference held on Friday.
Meanwhile, the MDP’s presidential candidate and former president Mohamed Nasheed called on EC President Fuwad Thowfeek to proceed with the presidential election if the Supreme Court fails to clarify what the EC must do when presidential candidates refuse to approve the registry.
Speaking to the press outside the EC today, Nasheed said that an election by October 20 is “paramount” to the Supreme Court guidelines, and hence the EC must proceed with elections preparations and stand ready to hold elections as scheduled until the Supreme Court clarifies what the EC must do, or until the PPM and JP approve the list.
“One of the views is that there is an obligation on the Elections Commissioner to have the elections on the 19th by the Supreme Court order. There are altogether 16 points in the guidelines. One of the points is to have the elections. Of course that is the most paramount of all the guidelines, just to have the elections. In having the election, the Supreme Court goes on to say what else has to be done. One of those things is to get the candidates to sign the voter’s list.”
“My view is that the Elections Commissioner must be ready and all the voting booths must be open at the time, but voting can begin when the Supreme Court either clarifies what they are talking about, which is signing the list or when the candidates sign the list,” he said.
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Shame on PPM and JP.
"JP MP Riyaz Rasheed had previously alleged that rival Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was accessing the EC’s servers and changing the registration status of voters."
(1) If it was the 1st of April I'd just have laughed. Riyaz Rasheed is living proof that humans once lived in trees! This character doesn't seem to have inherited the brain power of his species, but rather regressed to a different species altogether.
(2) If MDP wanted to access EC's servers, I'd doubt that Riyaz Rasheed would ever know about it! There are some very smart people in MDP.
(3) Will there ever be an election in this country? I doubt that'd happen anytime soon, unless the international community starts turning off the taps! The snooze has to tighten and it has to hurt where it really matters (wallets of the fat cats), and then PPM and JP will budge.
(4) Will Yameen or Gasim delay the polls even one second if they were confident of winning? Of course not. And ladies and gentlemen, the entire Maldivian public knows that too.
For the sake of Maldivians I request you Buruna Qasim to learn to accept defeat if you Harbour ambitions to contest in a general election. You were a winner in the past but now you are a big looser both financially and morally. Wish you were never made rich by Allah for your riches were not given to you to bribe unscrupulous judges and police officers. Thoubaa kurey
Thou baa vaashey
All this talk is just empty rhetoric.
What remains is for a capable mediator to bring all stakeholders to the table to solve this crisis politically.
The real issue is the fear from both PPM and Qasim that the likely outcome where Nasheed is elected would result in their downfall and persecution. The result of talks would be to assuage those fears and iron out a deal with solid guarantees thrown in - possibly a promise from international partners not to allow an elected government to prosecute the losing parties.
There is no legal/procedural solution to this problem. It is mainly a political clash and should be addressed accordingly.
The people can engage in endless debates about voters lists, Elections Commissioners and the Supreme Court bench. However the leadership of this country needs to discuss the real problems and let this thing go ahead.
Maldives going to dark side....truly proving by politician.. they are all behind the benefits of him/herself not for country... they will loose the tourism and will increase the terrorism if they going like this...fight continues.... (e.g) syria,africa,afghanisthan.. etc.,..
@tsk tsk on Fri, 18th Oct 2013 10:25 PM
"The result of talks would be to assuage those fears and iron out a deal with solid guarantees thrown in – possibly a promise from international partners not to allow an elected government to prosecute the losing parties."
(1) That won't solve the issue. That's just delaying the inevitable for another day.
(2) By whatever means, procedural or not, an election has to happen now. It'd have to be procedural as that's the only way it can be done. There's not a single person in the Maldives who can mediate between the various factions.
(3) After the election, a South African style "Truth and Reconciliation" effort needs to be setup. That's the only way to solve this for the long term. Anything else will lead to failure and a repeat of this chaos. Remember the parliamentary elections are not far away.
Shame on Gasim and his monster ambition. A morally bankrupt houseboy worthy of his masters, instead of a self-made hardworking man. His story could have been very different, he is an example and a consequence of the insidious way this regime has always operated.
Looking ahead, the mediator will perhaps have to be an international expert. Unfortunately we have to wary of these "experts" - just look at ConI. But if that can be done, it may be a way out.. or a bunch of "experts". Its hard for us proud Maldivians to accept or trust outsiders, but when our own people can treat us like this, we have no choice. They have made us look so incompetent on the international stage, yet they are not worthy of representing us. We are not the illiterate ignorant bunch that they think they have turned us into, through all those years of trying to brainwash us while they basked in their gilded gaudy palace.
Re persecution if and when Nasheed comes to power - yes its their fear obviously working behind their greed for power and money. Maybe a visit to the psychologist can be part of the package - or more likely a psychiatrist. Despite all that's happened, Nasheed will not persecute them in the brutal way that they expect or that (by now) many want. Perhaps if the imaginations of this motley crew could extend beyond the brutality and the fear and the truth that hides behind their fear, they will see that all along Nasheed has been trying to break the cycle of violence and retribution and drag us into a democracy where there can be a viable opposition.
So while they have to account for their actions, a "Truth and Reconciliation" style effort is all too possible. The Maldives, like South Africa has a lot of healing to do, inside as well as outside. The Maldives so far has a less violent legacy to deal with compared to her South African sister.
If this goes on, the US etc should realize the consequences of their actions when they recognized this coup - and act to remedy them.Any nation loving Maldivian realized then that this sorry state would be the result and it was so frustrating to see how slow the international community was in their waking up.
This is how terrorism is spawned. Violence. A violent future awaits our long peaceful islands if we do not tread carefully. But elections first - and it looks like that's the main message they need to get.They just ain't getting it yet..
Finally, we Maldivians are a hardy, stubborn lot - to survive over 2000 years on these impossible islands needs the spirit of the Blitz and some - shake off the shackles of our fear and we are unstoppable. In that sense, Nasheed is a worthy (sadly at the moment only) representative of our quietly dignified, spirited nation. We deserve such a leader.
@tsk tsk
You should be ashamed of your comments. The JP, PPM and previous coup dictatorship are trying to move the goal posts until the can fix a sham result. The "people" are not arguing about the registration it is just about 8 corrupt people holding the country to ransom = GASIM, HASSAN SAEED, YAMEEN, OLD MAN GAY YOOM, AZIMA , JAMEEL, 4 corrupt judges !!
Round them up, lock them up and throw away the key for crimes against humanity.
Yes its true. Majority of Maldivian do not want to accept an election where voters register was messed up ?
Only the people who want to go ahead with the current list is Nasheed and EC . They know if they allow other 2 candidates to check the list, Nasheed will get defeated badly and Nasheed and EC crimes will get exposed.
Fuwad Thaifeeq and Fayaz must be arrested for crimes that they had committed in the first round and for allowing dead people to cast their vote on 7th Sept.
Seems Buruma thinks voter registration list is voting in the election. How can you elect such fool as a president? The problem is not how many names are in the list, problem is if anyone cannot vote if his name is not on the list. The dead people or who do not exist will not come to vote Mr. Buruma. And if someone has registered twice for two separate region to cast multiple vote would be an issue which will be a very rare incident that you can easily check if suspicion arises. Buruma you are such an idiot how did you ever think to be our president. You are good to be a trash collector.
Delaying tactic.
Baagee Nasheed, how ever much you bark in the night the moon shall shine. Thank Allah we have got a man called Nasheed as a president candidate for he shall develop this country and will not back the vengeance culture like the likes of you seek in the name of Gauma and dheenA. Just go to hell munaafigu
This is what happens when you compromise with the rule of law. This nation asked for it and it has got in lorry loads.
As for the solution the EC needs to fix a date and all the parties endorse the voters register and then vote.
In the meantime we must wait for baby to cease its caprice.
Gasim has a valid point. The election data has been tempered with. to change the result of election only about 2k votes need to be tampered with. that's why SC nullified the first round.
Mary. you damn idiot does not know that voters list mean a lot to the election.
We have seen dead people had vacated votes on 7th Sept.
We have seen under agae children had casted thier votes on 7th Sept.
We have seen people had casted thier votes 3 times on 7th Sept.
all these was made possible because we had a forged voters list . Dead people for sure will not come to cast thier votes. But people who are alive had casted on behalf of them and this was done by using Bagaalhis and they were given ID card with their photos .
When such person goes to pooling station, the people there will look at the ID and the names on the list. The guy sitting their will not know whether the name on the list was alive or not ?
This is why voters list is so critical ?
Hussain. You cult can say anything and 55% even after rigging then votes by your cult, still had said no to Kenereege Nasheed.
Toxic T: Awesome analysis! I actually do believe that, despite the unimaginably powerful pressure Anni is ALLWAYS under to take the path of vengeance and violence, and despite the fact that many who support and back MDP, financially and otherwise, do push for and have tried to take power through violence, and despite the fact that Anni has at times begun to crack under that pressure, that within himself - deep down - ..."Nasheed has been trying to break the cycle of violence and retribution..." to quote your comment.
"Anni' is not perfect, he is only a human being after all. However, I believe that Nasheed is way more capable of resisting the pressure to resort to outrageous violence than any other of the Presidential candidates.- I believe that this pressure to resort to violent tyranny comes from every angle at nearly every politician and many business men from ALL sides of the political divide. It is as strong as a wild hurricane.
If you think Anni caved in a little to that pressure, only a God could have withstood it totally after all and Anni is not a God, imagine how Gasim and Yameen would react to such pressure!
Thats what I think anyway.
Supreme Court was given the database and it got leak. The very people who damaged the database are talking about it so confidently. Gasim you are not fit to be our leader. Give up and go home before the people taking eat up all what you have got.