Tag: MDP

LGA recommends making councillors part-time

The Local Government Authority (LGA) has recommended making councillors part-time with the exception of council presidents and vice presidents.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Defence Minister Colonel (Retired) Mohamed Nazim – who chairs the institution tasked with monitoring councils and coordinating with the government – said the LGA has proposed amending the Decentralisation Act to pay part-time councillors an allowance for attending council meetings.

“For example, a teacher or a headmaster level person or someone with higher educational qualifications, they will have the opportunity to contest [council elections]; or for example if it’s a skilled person, a boat builder, they will only have to come for meetings and they’re done after giving their advice and opinion,” Nazim explained.

“The president and vice president will operate the council. Instead, now they have to leave their profession – the teacher, headmaster or boat builder has to give up his job.”

As a consequence, Nazim contended, the councillors’ time was not put to productive use.

“The benefit of [the changes] is that the councillor has to work a very short amount of time and be free to work productively for the island’s development,” he added.

Wage bill

The president of island councils currently receive a monthly salary and allowance of MVR15,000 (US$973) while council members receive MVR11,000 (US$713). The mayor of Malé is paid MVR45,000 (US$2,918) a month.

The president and vice president of councils are elected from among the members by secret ballot.

A total of MVR717 million (US$46 million) was allocated in the 2011 national budget to pay salaries and allowances for local councils, which accounted for 17 percent of the annual wage bill.

Under article 25 of the Decentralisation Act, a five-member council is elected in islands with a population of less than 3,000, a seven-member council for islands with a population between 3,000 and 10,000, and a nine-member council for islands with a population of more than 10,000.

City councils comprise of “an elected member from every electoral constituency of the city” and atoll councils comprises of “elected members from the electoral constituencies within the administrative division.”

The current model of more than 1,000 elected councillors approved in 2010 by the then-opposition majority parliament was branded “economic sabotage” by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government, which had proposed limiting the number of councillors to “no more than 220.”

The new layer of government introduced with the first local council elections in February 2011 cost the state US$12 million a year with a wage bill of US$220,000 a month.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad told parliament’s Budget Review Committee last year that President Abdulla Yameen favoured revising the local government framework to reduce the number of island and atoll councillors.

In November 2013, the incoming administration proposed merging island and atoll councils, with the latter to be composed of a representative from each island of the atoll.

President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz said at the time that “the president’s thinking is not to cut down on the number of councillors. But to elect councilors based on the population of the islands. This is a move to curb state expenditure.”

However, parliament did not move to amend the Decentralisation Act ahead of the local council elections on January 18, which saw 1,100 councillors elected for  three-year terms.

Three-year terms

Nazim meanwhile told the press yesterday that the LGA’s recommendations have been shared with the government and the legislature.

While the proposals were intended to reduce the state’s recurrent expenditure – which accounts for over 70 percent of the budget – Nazim said the LGA does not support changing the council’s term from three to five years.

Contending that the legal responsibility of local councils was implementing the government’s policies, Nazim said voters should have the opportunity to change their elected representatives during an ongoing five-year presidential term.

“Citizens get an opportunity to see what kind of results the council produced and the extent to which they upheld the government’s policies,” he said.

Nazim said that LGA Deputy Chair Ahmed Faisal’s public remarks concerning combining the local council and parliamentary elections represented his personal opinion.

The defence minister noted that the Elections Commission has yet to announce official results of the local council elections – held eleven days ago – and that conducting the polls simultaneously would create present difficulties for the commission.

In December, the World Bank warned in a report that the Maldivian economy was at risk due to excessive government spending, with an already excessive wage bill ballooned by 55 percent in 2013.

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MP Sameer joins Jumhooree Party

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Sameer has signed up to the government aligned Jumhooree Party (JP) on Tuesday.

According to the JP, Sameer joined the party after it promised him the ticket to contest in Dhihdhoo constituency – a seat he currently occupies in parliament – in the upcoming Majlis elections.

Sameer was initially a member of the JP, but later joined the opposition MDP in 2009 to contest in that year’s parliamentary elections.

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Attorney General refuses to attend parliament committee regarding revenue bills

Attorney General Mohamed Anil has refused to attend the parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing revenue bills after being summoned to a meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

The rejection letter sent to the parliament secretariat argued that the bill of amendments to the Tourism Act and T-GST [Tourism Goods and Services Tax] bills include policies compiled by the Economic and Youth Council of the cabinet.

Anil stated that the only role played by the Attorney General’s Office had been to draft the bills as directed by the council.

“As this office has no comments to make on the content of these bills at this moment, I respectfully inform you that I excuse my office from sending staff to attend the meeting we have been invited to,” a parliament official quoted the letter as saying.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza has suggested that the absence of the Attorney General (AG) suggests disapproval of government policies.

Upon forming a government late last year, President Abdulla Yameen divided his cabinet into two sub-divisions – a social council and an economic council.

Government aligned parties have initiated special sessions of the parliament in order to extend the duration in which bed taxes can be charged, and also to increase T-GST. The government has also proposed to take full payments as lease from resorts that have extended their contracts.

President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali stated that, while the attorney general’s reasons for refusal are “absolutely clear”, the cabinet has thus far not decided whether it will hold discussions on the relevant policies with the parliament committee.

Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Ali Arif – who sits in the committee tasked with reviewing the revenue bills – stated that he would be able to further comment on the matter after deliberations with the attorney general.

“What the AG has actually said is that he has already provided his views on the matter to the cabinet’s Economic Council, and therefore he declines from attending the committee to present the same views,” Arif stated.

Opposing view

An opposition MDP member in the same committee has interpreted the AG’s refusal to attend the committee meeting in a different light.

“Reading between the lines, MDP feels that the AG refused to attend as he does not agree with some of the things proposed by the government,” MDP MP Ahmed Hamza told Minivan News today.

“One of the things we feel he disagrees on is the government’s proposal to change the payment terms for resorts, to cancel the extentions granted to payments in breach of what the government has previously agreed with resort owners,” he continued.

“The other thing is the bed tax. The law says bed tax charges are to be ceased from December 31, 2013. The government is now proposing to continue taking it from January 1, 2014, but there is no law to support this. We feel the AG does not support taking this in retrospect after a law is formed now,” Hamza stated.

The AG, Mohamed Anil, was not responding to calls at the time of press.

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Parties prepare for Majlis elections as EC calls for applications

The Elections Commission (EC) has announced it will be accepting applications for the People’s Majlis elections between January 29 and February 11.

A fee of MVR5000 (US$ 324) is required for every application.

The parliamentary elections are scheduled for March 22, and results are to be announced on March 29. The commission also published the Elections Regulation 2014 today.

As the Elections Commission (EC) gears up for the elections, all major political parties contesting have begun to select their candidates.

Maldivian Democratic Party

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – who narrowly lost the presidential election last November -will be contesting for all 85 seats of the People’s Majlis. 27 candidates have won the party’s ticket without contest, being the sole contender in those areas.

Tickets for the remaining 58 seats – sought by 176 candidates – are to be awarded through party primaries. The primaries were held for 20 seats on January 25, after being called off the previous day due to administrative and voter registry issues. Winners in these areas have also been announced.

Polling is expected to take place tomorrow for Baarashu constituency tomorrow, and primaries will be held for another 30 constituencies this weekend.

Governing coalition deal

The governing coalition led by President Abdulla Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has decided to compete as a group. The parties in the coalition have reached a deal to reserve a set number of seats for each party.

As per the deal, 49 seats have been reserved for PPM candidated, 28 seats have been allocated for tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhooree Party (JP), and Ahmed ‘Sun Travel’ Shiyam’s Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) will run for 8 seats.

Progressive Party of Maldives

President Abdulla Yameen’s PPM, which has the majority of coalition seat allocations, has scheduled part-primaries for February 4. By 4pm yesterday – the deadline to apply for party tickets – 150 candidates had applied for the allocated 49 seats. These candidates will now go through a screening process where they will be evaluated and graded based on the following criteria;

  • upholding the party ideology
  • how long the person has served in the party
  • experience in the parliament
  • campaigned for the party presidential candidate
  • belonging to a ‘special category’ recognised by the party
  • the amount of service provided for the party

The screening will be carried out by a committee formed by the party council and the strategic planning committee. Applicants who don’t get at least 75 percent marks will not be qualified to compete in the primaries. In constituencies where one person is qualified for the primary, that candidate will automatically win the ticket. If all the applicants for a seat fail meet the criteria, a primary will be held among them.

Jumhooree Party

The JP yesterday opened applications for 19 of their 28 allocated seats before 30 January. Applications for the remainder of the seats will also be announced soon. Applicants will initially be reviewed by a special committee formed by the party council, giving them points through a set of criteria. The applicants with the most points will receive the party tickets. In case of a draw,the party will attempt to find a solution through dialogue – failing this, the party will discuss a primary election.

Maldives Development Alliance

The Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) have decided to reserve two of their eight allocated seats for sitting MP s – party leader and Dhaalu Meedhoo MP Ahmed ‘Sun Travel’ Shiyam, and Dhaalu Kudahuvadhoo MP Ahmed Amir. Tickets for Kendhikulhudhoo and Hoarafushi were won by uncontested candidates. Primaries will be held in for Manadhoo and Velidhoo tickets on 30 January, while the application for Holhudhoo constituency is still open.

The MDA has decided not to contest for Gaddhoo constituency, despite being allocated the seat by the coalition, as there are no party members in the area.

Adhaalath Party

While the PPM has earlier discussed allocating coalition seats for the religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) through the coalition deal, no seats were allocated for them through the coalition’s parliamentary election deal, as the party is not officially a coalition member. The PPM has said, however, that other members of the coalition are free to share their allocated seats with AP.

In this regard, the JP has proposed an interest to share some of it’s tickets with Adhaalath. According to JP Secretary General Dr Ahmed Saud, the party will propose 1 to 3 seats to Adhaalath with a set of conditions such as not competing with the JP for any other seat. Both JP and Adhaalath has confirmed their leaders will soon hold talks to decide on the matter.

An Adhaalath official told Minivan News that it is unlikely for the party to settle for that amount of seats when the party is already confident about several constituencies.

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MDP announces winners in six parliamentary primaries

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced the winners in primaries for six parliamentary constituencies today.

Incumbent MP Nazim Rashad won the party ticket for Thulhadhoo constituency, while Ismail Ahmed won the Dhuvaafaru constituency.

Mahmood Idris won the primary for the Maamigili constituency and Ismail Gasim (Souvenir Isse) won the Vilifushi constituency. Abdulla Afeef won the ticket for Gemanafushi and Ahmed Ibrahim Didi (Campus Didi) secured the ticket for Fuvahmulah Medhu constituency.

Meanwhile, Abdulla Nafiz has secured the party ticket for Fuvahmulah South without a vote after his opponent pulled out of the primary today.

Of the 85 People’s Majlis constituencies, the party ticket was initially granted to 27 candidates without a primary due to a lack of contenders.

The party had scheduled primaries for the remaining 58 constituencies, but called off polls due to administrative and voter registry issues.

Voting has now been completed for 25 constituencies. Polling for Baarashu constituency will be held tomorrow,and the MDP expects to hold voting for 30 constituencies during the upcoming weekend.

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MDP suspends MPs Zahir and Abdul Raheem

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has suspended MPs Zahir Adam and Abdulla Abdul Raheem’s from the party until the end of the parliamentary elections, scheduled for March.

The party’s disciplinary committee decided to suspend the two MPs for contravening a three-whip line on December 30 and voting for President Abdulla Yameen’s cabinet.

Zahir and Abdul Raheem have been ordered to apologise to the party membership before January 30, and will not be allowed to contest any internal party elections – including primaries – for the next three years.

The two MPs did not stand in the MDP’s ongoing parliamentary primaries.

Chair of the disciplinary committee and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said Zahir and Abdul Raheem’s membership had been suspended to ensure the two MPs do not contest March’s parliamentary elections as independents while retaining MDP membership.

Speaking to Sun Online, Zahir said he did not accept the MDP’s disciplinary actions.

“I won this seat as an independent. I do not think there is any action that can be taken against me for any decision I make while in this seat,” he said.

In addition to Zahir and Abdul Raheem, MPs Mohamed Rasheed (Matrix Mode), Ahmed Rasheed, Abdulla Jabir, Ali Riza, and Ahmed Easa voted against the party’s whip line on December 30.

Mohamed Rasheed and Ahmed Rasheed have left the party and joined the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and Jumhooree Party (JP) respectively. If the two MPs intend to join MDP again, they must apologise to the party’s membership and 50 members each.

Jabir, Riza, and Easa stood uncontested for reselection, and had already been placed on the party ticket when they voted against the whip.

The MDP has stripped Jabir of his position as deputy leader of the parliamentary group, ordered him to issue an apology by January 30, and decided to hold a referendum in his Kaashidhoo constituency to determine whether the MDP membership approve of granting Jabir the party ticket.

Speaking to local media, Jabir has said he will stand for the referendum and said he had informed the party of his decision to vote for Yameen’s cabinet.

“The MDP had officially accepted the government. [We have to] keep the national interest in mind. I will not leave MDP. I will stay with the party,” he told Haveeru.

Riza has been reprimanded and asked to issue an apology by January 30.

Meanwhile, the party has decided not to take any action against Easa, stating that his actions on December 30 only constituted a first offense.

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MDP councils must cooperate with government developments: President’s Office

The President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali has called on the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) majority councils to cooperate with the government’s development plans.

Speaking to local media on Monday, Muaz said the MDP majority councils should focus on working with the government to bring development to the citizens.

According to a Minivan News analysis of the local council election results, the MDP has gained a majority in 79 councils and won 457 seats. The ruling coalition which include the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), the Jumhooree Party (JP) and the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) control 57 councils and won a combined total of 465 seats.

Muaz specifically called on the MDP led Malé City and Addu City Councils to extend cooperation to the government at a time when President Abdulla Yameen’s administration is initiating major development projects.

“The government will of course always respect the decision of the citizens. However, those people who got elected to councils must bear in mind that today the people desire to overcome political turmoil and focus on bringing development to their cities and islands,” Muaz said.

The Elections Commission (EC) completed announcing the preliminary results of the local councils yesterday.

PPM’s view

PPM’s Local Council Election Coordinator Mohamed Ashmali expressed confidence that the local councils, regardless of party affiliation, would work together in the interests of developing their areas.

“I would like to believe that we will see cooperation from the councils. We saw that even in parliament, MDP provided cooperation in passing some bills key to the government and I believe we will see such cooperation even from the councils,” Ashmali stated.

“The councils must communicate with and work together with whichever government is in power in order to do what they must for their constituencies. There are people who are very close to us in other senses in various parties. Political affiliation is a completely different matter anyway,” he said.

“I think the Maldivian people are still a bit new to the party system, but we are seeing a gradual improvement.”

Ashmali said that as the coalition had worked together in the local council elections, it is important to compare results between the MDP and then the coalition as a single unit, instead of separate parties.

“According to our review of the tentative results, coalition partners mainly got the island and atoll councils. In Addu City, it is true we were not able to conduct sufficient work. The turnout there was also relatively quite low – approximately 60 percent. However, compared to previous years, I believe that having gotten three seats in the Malé City council is quite a good achievement,” he stated.

“I did even suggest to Fuwad Thowfeek [Elections Commission President] that the EC places a ballot box for residents of the island, and a single separate box for voters in an island who originate from other constituencies. This would have assisted in getting the preliminary results out much faster. By just counting the boxes specific to each constituency, citizens and parties would have learnt sooner which seats had been won or lost. This is the information which the parties would most pressingly need after an election,” he added.

No manifesto

MDP Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor confirmed that the party’s approach would be to focus on holding the government accountable and to remain a responsible opposition.

“The councils will display a healthy mix of being a responsible opposition and holding the government accountable,” Hamid said.

“The issue that may arise is that while government asks for cooperation, they don’t even have a manifesto to show. This will cause local councils to ask them what it is that they want cooperation for. That it is unclear what exactly the government plans to do,” he continued.

“The thing, however, is that the culture of the past system is still prevailing in the government’s approach. They tend to treat local councils in the manner they approached the former island chief systems, and tend to ignore the fact that councillors are elected and not appointed like island chiefs, and the fact that councillors have a legal mandate and rights,” Hamid said.

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EC announces preliminary results of local council elections

The Elections Commission (EC) yesterday completed announcing preliminary results of the local council elections that took place on Saturday, January 18.

EC President Fuwad Thowfeek told the press that a second round of voting would be necessary in some races where the last placed candidates received the same number of votes.

“For example, for a five-member council, if the [candidates] in fifth place and sixth place are tied, in such cases we have to go to a second round,” Thowfeek explained.

He added that the EC would announce a date for the second round, though Thowfeek did not reveal the constituencies where a second round would be needed.

Official results are meanwhile expected by Friday. Election laws stipulate that official results must be announced within 14 days of the polls.

A total of 2,463 candidates contested in the January 18 elections for 1,100 seats – 951 island council seats, 132 atoll council seats, and 17 city council seats – in the country’s second local government elections under the landmark Decentralisation Act of 2010.

Minivan News’s analysis of the provisional results – subject to change – shows that the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won 457 seats (41.5 percent) while the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) won 281 seats (25.5 percent).

The PPM’s coalition partners, the Jumhooree Party (JP) and the Maldives Development Alliance, took 125 seats (11.4 percent) and 59 seats (5.4 percent) respectively.

The Adhaalath Party secured 45 seats (4.1 percent) – including a majority in three councils – while the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) won one seat (0.1 percent) and independent candidates won 132 seats (12 percent).

The Adhaalath Party campaigned independently of the government coalition as the religious conservative party was not an official coalition partner. The party decided to back PPM candidate Abdulla Yameen in the second round of the presidential election last year without a formal coalition agreement.

Close race, PPM satisfied

The MDP’s 457 seat haul meanwhile includes 55 atoll council seats, 14 city council seats, and 388 island council seats.

The main opposition party retained a majority of the Malé and Addu City councils. The two cities account for 40 percent of the voting population.

The party also gained majority control of 79 councils (37.6 percent).

Parties representing the government coalition took a combined total of 465 seats, including 71 atoll council seats, three city council seats, and 391 island council seats.

The government coalition won a majority in 57 councils.

At a press conference hours after polls closed on January 18, former President Mohamed Nasheed said that the results portended a victory for the MDP in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Nasheed also threatened to impeach President Abdulla Yameen should the opposition party secure a majority of parliamentary seats.

“The Maldivian citizens still want an MDP government, and for Maldives to be ruled according to MDP’s philosophy. I would like to tell the Maldivian public, do not be disheartened. God willing, without much delay, we will take over the government,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Nasheed told reporters that the MDP suspected electoral fraud using fake national identity cards in the presidential election.

The former president’s remarks were condemned the following day by the PPM, with Deputy Leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla expressing confidence of the government coalition winning “a clear majority” of seats in the local council elections.

Raheem accused the MDP’s presidential candidate of attempting to incite unrest and turmoil.

Referring to Nasheed’s remarks conceding the presidential election on November 16, Abdul Raheem said a responsible opposition party would not seek to change the government.

Nasheed was narrowly defeated by PPM candidate Yameen in November’s controversial presidential election, winning 48.61 percent of the vote (105,181) to Yameen’s 51.39 percent (111,203) – a difference of just 6,022 votes.

President Yameen meanwhile told reporters last week that PPM members who contested as independents cost the government coalition a number of seats.

Yameen claimed that more than 85 percent of independent candidates were PPM members.

PPM members decided to contest as independent candidates in constituencies reserved for the coalition partner JP, Yameen explained, despite instructions from the party.

President Yameen noted that the three seats won by PPM candidates in the capital was an improvement on the February 2011 results, in which the then-opposition took two seats to the MDP’s nine.

Yameen further contended that the results of the council elections showed “huge support for our coalition”.

“So I am satisfied. [But] we could have put in a better effort,” he said.

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MDP invalidates Jabir’s place on party ticket for Majlis election

The Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) disciplinary dommittee has invalidated MDP MP Abdulla Jabir’s place on the party ticket for the Majlis elections in March.

MDP disciplinary committee chair and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor today told Minivan News that the decision was made after he had repeatedly voted against the party whip.

“The disciplinary committee is not giving out details of it but we can only confirm that the decision was made and the committee has asked the party secretariat to implement the decision,’’ he said.

He said the decision was made last Thursday,with the party secretariat being informed the same day.

The MDP parliamentary primaries are ongoing, though Jabir was uncontested for the Kaashidhoo constituency seat.

When queried about other MPs that had voted against the party line, Hamid said that there was no documentation that other MPs had repeatedly voted against the party whip.

“The MDP’s parliamentary group has a policy that says that an MP’s case should be filed in the disciplinary committee only when the MP repeatedly works against the party stand,’’ he added.

MP Jabir’s mobile phone was switched off and Minivan News was not able to obtain his comment regarding the matter.

During the December 30 endorsement of President Abdulla Yameen’s cabinet, a three-line whip was issued by the MDP’s parliamentary group ordering the rejection of eight nominees.

The eight cabinet members include Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim, Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb, Islamic Minister Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, Minister of Health and Gender Maryam Shakeela, Minister of Transport and Communication Ameen Ibrahim, Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad, and Housing Minister Mohamed Muizzu on the grounds they were “coup ministers” having served in the administration of President Dr Mohamed Waheed.

The MDP also rejected Home Minister Umar Naseer saying that various speeches given by him at political rallies made it “evident that he will not be loyal to Yameen”.

MDP MPs Abdulla Jabir, Zahir Adam, Ahmed Rasheed, Mohamed Rasheed, Abdulla Abdul Raheem, and Ahmed Easa were the six MDP parliamentarians who breached the three-line whip on that day.

Easa told Minivan News earlier this month that his breach of party instructions with regards to the tourism minister had been a mistake, describing it as the biggest of his political career.

On December 29, parliament scheduled the passing of the penal code, with MP Jabir voting against the legislation after the MDP had already decided to pass it – describing the bill as “too harsh”.

Jabir is well known for his frequent party defections. His first political party was Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) during the presidency of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, before switching to the People’s Alliance.

Jabir then defected to the Jumhooreee Party (JP) ahead of the 2008 presidential elections, backing JP leader and business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.  Jabir was appointed as the party’s deputy leader.

He subsequently switched to the MDP, holding senior positions within the party. He also announced his intention to contest for the MDP chairmanship.

During the protests following the detention of Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in early 2012, however, Jabir once again declared that he had defected from the MDP back to the JP.

Jabir became an MP after winning the by-election for the vacant Kaashidhoo constituency seat on a JP ticket. Following his arrest and charges of alcohol possession in late 2012, Jabir became an open critic of the Waheed government, eventually reverting back to the MDP in December the same year.

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