Tag: election 2013

PPM and MDA leadership to host coalition rally in Male’ tonight

The government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has scheduled a “mass rally” for the artificial beach area of Male’ this evening, according to media reports.

PPM representative and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dhunya Maumoon was quoted by Sun Online as stating that the event would be attended by senior party members, as well as representatives from coalition partner, the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA).

The PPM announced earlier this month that it would be forming an alliance with the MDA, headed by MP and resort owner Ahmed ‘Sun Travel’ Shiyam, ahead of the presidential election scheduled for September 7 this year.

MP Shiyam is expected to be in attendance during tonight’s rally, along with PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen and his running mate former Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed.

Party founder and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom – Yameen’s half brother – is also expected to attend, according to local media.

PPM MP and Spokesperson Ahmed Nihan was not responding to calls at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

JP claims many more MPs set to join party after presidential election

The Jumhoree Party (JP) has said “many more MPs” are expected to pledge support to its leader, MP Gasim Ibrahim, following the conclusion of the upcoming presidential election – claiming an unspecified number have already pledged to work with the party.

The claims were made as the JP, held its first major event in the capital in order to publicise an election alliance formed with the religious conservative Adhaalath Party and the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP).

Minivan News witnessed several thousand people in attendance at yesterday’s event, which saw several speakers including Gasim take to a specially constructed stage to address supporters and confirm that MP Ahmed Rasheed has switched to the party from the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

The rally was held in the same location, where the MDP staged a meeting on Monday (August 12) to bring several thousand supporters together both as a show of strength and to commemorate the 12th anniversary of Black Friday in 2004.

Both parties events this week appeared to have been similarly attended, with MDP sources estimating that around 6000 seats had been set out for supporters during its rally.

“Major event”

With the election scheduled for September 7 – three weeks from today – JP Policy Secretary Mohamed Ajmal said that yesterday’s rally was planned as a “major event” to show the support base behind the Jumhoree coalition.

Speaking during the event, Gasim dismissed criticisms of his wealth by rival candidates in the election, adding that none of his competitors could be described as poor men.

He also pledged with his hand on the Quran that he would not take the smallest amount of funds from the public “against the constitution”.

Other speakers during the event slammed former President Mohamed Nasheed, accusing his administration of irreligious policies.

According to customs records for 2011, Gasim’s Villa Hotels chain – including the Royal, Paradise, Sun, and Holiday Island resorts, in 2011 imported approximately 121,234.51 litres of beer, 2048 litres of whiskey, 3684 litres of vodka and 219.96 kilograms of pork sausages, among other commodities restricted to islands classified as ‘uninhabited’ in the Maldives.

Speaking today, Ajmal claimed the party unofficially estimated some 10,000 to 15,000 attended the event, with some 20,000 supporters said to have been invited – although he believed not all had been able to travel from across the country.

He added that the JP had not itself provided boats to bring supporters to Male’ for the rally, opting instead to provide fuel for transportation and some unspecified “facilities” for supporters when they reached the capital.

MP switch

With MP Ahmed Rasheed having now joined the JP, Ajmal claimed that many more parliamentarians were “trying to work” with the party, though declined to give further details to media at time of press.

“These names have not yet been finalised. Because of the political situation at present, we will wait until after the election, though there are many MPs working with us,” he said today.

In the build up to next month’s scheduled voting, Ajmal said the JP had several further campaign plans that would be divulged at a later date.

He added that the JP remained confident it would achieve a comfortable second round election victory should no candidate obtain 51 per cent of the first round of voting.

However, Ajmal said that based on the strength of the country’s internal polling and research, there was growing optimism that Gasim could claim the presidency during the first round on the strength of what it perceived was growing grass roots support across the country.

“Our vice presidential candidate Dr Hassan Saeed said last night that it was reasonable to believe that if we work hard and continue with our great momentum, we might achieve 51 percent [in the first round],” he said.

PPM anticipates two candidate contest

Despite the JP’s confidence ahead of the election, the government-aligned PPM earlier this month maintained that former President Mohamed Nasheed of the MDP and its candidate, Abdulla Yameen, were the only two candidates capable of winning the election.

PPM MP Ahmed Nihan at the time dismissed any notion that the JP posed a threat to its own presidential campaign, accusing Gasim of using his financial power to buy support during his campaigning that would not translate to actual votes on polling day.

The MDP meanwhile has this week reiterated its belief that a first round victory was possible, with the PPM receiving the second largest number of votes, while expecting President Dr Mohamed Waheed and Gasim to finish in third and fourth place.

“The PPM I believe will come second because it is led by the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. He will obviously have loyal supporters,” MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said this week.

“But it may be a different story when it comes to recruiting their young support base. Apart from Gayoom, both Gasim and even Waheed are using money to get votes.”

Ghafoor described the current election politics as a battle between the past and the future, claiming the MDP’s three opponents were proxies of former President Gayoom’s 30 year reign and had nothing new to offer to the people.

Sources within President Waheed’s ‘forward with the nation’ coalition have over the last week also expressed confidence of being able to obtain a first round election win despite expressing concern over a “money game” it alleged was being played by certain candidates.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President obtains 1,500 signatures for independent candidacy, coalition claims “things going to plan”

President Dr Mohamed Waheed has obtained the 1,500 signatures required to register himself as an independent candidate in the upcoming election, his ‘forward with the nation’ coalition has said.

Amidst the possibility of his Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP) facing dissolution for not having the 10,000 members required to officially register a political entity in the Maldives, President Waheed this week announced his intention to stand for election as an independent candidate.

The incumbent will stand as an independent alongside his running mate, MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali – leader of the government aligned Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP).

Candidates unaffiliated with a political party are required to submit signatures of at least 1,500 supporters with their official application to stand in the upcoming presidential election, according to local media.

In order to meet this total, President Waheed held a signing ceremony at the presidential residence of Hilaaleege in Male’ on Wednesday (July 17) evening.

Minivan News observed an estimated 200 people present at the ceremony by around 10:00pm, where the president’s family members and news reporters were seen mingling with supporters.  The signing event concluded at midnight.

In a statement released Thursday ( July 18 ), the ‘Forward with the nation coalition’ claimed it had seen an “overwhelming response” from the public to sign the petition backing President Waheed’s candidacy, with over 500 people attending the ceremony during the course of Wednesday evening.

“While we have already exceeded the legal minimum we will continue to sign up supporters in the coming days,” the statement said.

Minivan News understands that President Waheed also conducted a door to door campaign to obtain signatures for his candidacy, with the coalition anticipating similar event will continue into next week.  An exact number of signatories was not received at time of press.

President’s Waheed’s coalition until last week consisted of several government-aligned parties; including the religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP), the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), the DRP and his own GIP.

However, the DQP yesterday announced it would be following the AP in leaving the president’s coalition to back the campaign of resort tycoon and Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Gasim Ibrahim instead.

DRP Parliamentary Group Leader MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom has said the defection of both the AP and the DQP from the ‘Forward with the nation coalition’ “did not change the game at all” in terms of its strategy to secure the election during a second round of voting.

A second round will be held between the top two candidates during polls scheduled for September 7 should either fail to secure at least 51 percent of the vote.

“We know that the 2013 election will require a second round of voting and that all candidates wish to be in the grand final. We are optimistic that we will be in this final,” he said.

Mausoom has previously claimed that the DRP – both as an individual party, and later as members of President Waheed’s coalition – remained the main alternative viewpoint for voters disenfranchised by the “polarised views” of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) or the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Dr Mausoom added that even with the defection of the Adhaalath and the DQP, President Waheed still presented a coalition of people rather than individual parties, with more “political figures” expected to come out and back him before voting commences later this year.

He therefore said the coalition was confident it would still appeal to voters as alternative to MDP candidate former President Mohamed Nashhed and the PPM, led by former autocratic President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The MDP and PPM presently represent the country’s two largest parties in terms of parliamentary representation.

While anticipating “moments” in the run up to the presidential election where political figures – either out of financial or ideological reasons – would switch to rival candidates and parties, Mausoom said it would ultimately be the general public who decided on the next president. He argued that Dr Waheed’s record as president following last year’s controversial transfer of power would therefore be recognised by voters during polling.

“President Waheed has done a wonderful job of keeping the government together and shown what a great leader he is,” Dr Mausoom said. “Things are going to plan and we are confident during the second round [of voting] that the people will opt for [the coalition].”

However, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) today rejected claims that the ‘Forward with the nation’ coalition would receive sufficient support to see President Waheed elected to office.

MDP MP and Spokesperson claimed that the majority of voters would opt to reject President Waheed as a candidate owing to the controversial transfer of power that brought him to power and the conduct of his coalition government since.  The MDP has continued to allege that former President Nasheed’s government was ended prematurely by a “coup d’eat” on February 7, 2012 following a mutiny by sections of the police and military.

“The bottom line is people will vote overwhelmingly against the coup. It is regrettable [President Waheed] is still hanging on,” he said. “Pretender Waheed has already cost the state upwards of a billion US dollars since the coup.”

Meanwhile, the PPM announced this week that no formal decision had yet been taken on whether to retract its support for the coalition government, despite growing “complaints” from its members over the conduct of President Waheed.

MP Ahmed Nihan today told Minivan News that both the PPM’s senior leadership and ordinary members held significant “concerns” over the conduct of President Waheed in the build up to this year’s presidential election, with the party accusing the incumbent and his supporters of unfair campaigning.

The PPM is the largest party in terms of MP numbers presently serving within the coalition government backing President Waheed.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Deadline for voter re-registration to expire August 7

Voters registered for this year’s presidential election have one month left to notify the Election’s Commission (EC) of any change to their permanent residence on the official registry, or else face having to travel to that address to cast their ballot.

The deadline for eligible voters to re-register their current permanent residence on the registry will expire at 16:00pm on August 7 – a month to the day before polling is scheduled to take place.

Local NGO Transparency Maldives told Minivan News today that the process for re-registration was “pretty straightforward”, but vital to ensure that any voter expected to be in a different country or island on polling day would not have to travel potentially significant distances to cast their ballot.

Members of the public wishing to re-register are required to fill a form that can be downloaded here.

Once completed and signed, the form must be submitted at a specially designated area at several locations across the country.

These locations are:

  • Addu City – Addu City Council office
  • Male’ – EC office
  • Hulhumale’ – Gazee school common room
  • Vilimale’ – Fishermen Training Centre

For all other islands in the country, re-registration forms must be submitted to the local island council office.

According to Transparency Maldives, the completed re-registration form must be signed and submitted along with a copy of either a valid national ID card, a passport or license card with a photo. The original form of ID must also be shown when submitting the form, according to EC requirements.

For anyone wishing to re-register for another person, the EC requires the signed form to be submitted with both the voter’s own valid ID, as well as a copy of the ID of the individual submitting the form on their behalf.

Re-registration process

Transparency Maldives told Minivan News in May that the issue of voters wishing to re-register their permanent place of residence with the EC had been a key concern in the build up to September’s election.

Taking the case of a Maldives national living abroad in Malaysia or Sri Lanka, the NGO previously said that unless a voter re-registered their details with the EC to use a ballot box in that country, they would need to return to their place of permanent residence on polling day.

Transparency Maldives has said that the EC had since been travelling to islands across the country to try and raise awareness over the issue, which reflected what it claimed were “progressive improvements” in the commission’s work to keep voters informed.

Transparency Project Director Aiman Rasheed today said that re-registration had been a “huge issue” during the 2008 presidential election – the first multi-party democratic poll ever held in the Maldives at the time.

However, Rasheed expressed optimism that the EC had this year been given much more time to clean up and amend errors and out of date information in the present voter registry.

“After the constitution was passed in August 2008, there was a truncated period of time before voting was able to take place,” he said, referring to voting that took place just two months later in October of the same year.

Rasheed added that having since held several democratic elections, including voting on local councils back in February 2011, the EC had since had a lot of experience in updating the voter registry.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)