Tag: MDP

MDP MPs alcohol possession case continues

The second hearing into Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Hamed Abdul Ghafoor’s alcohol and cannabis possession case was cancelled today after the accused failed to attend.

A Criminal Court official told Sun Online today that Hamed did not appear at the 10am hearing.

Sun also reported that Hamed’s fellow MDP MP Abdulla Jabir – also accused of possession of alcohol and cannabis – had his passport held by immigration officials when trying to leave the country yesterday.

Jabir’s wife – former Attorney General Dhiyana Saeed – told Sun Online that a passport could only be withheld after announcing the charges against the accused at a first hearing.

Whilst Ghafoor was in attendance at the cases first hearing at the start of the month, Jabir did not. Dhiyana today explained that her husband had not been handed the summons requesting his attendance for this hearing, as he had been campaigning with his party in the atolls.

Both MPs are facing charges of smuggling alcohol into the country and consuming it, as well as possession of cannabis and objecting to urine testing.

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“The people have again said a resounding ‘no’ to Gayoom, as they did in 2008”: Nasheed

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Sunday night held the first political gathering since the election to rally its supporters, ahead of the upcoming run-off election on September 28.

Thousands of people attended the rally near the tsunami monument in Male. The MDP had confidently predicted a first round victory on Saturday, campaigning to the slogan ‘Ehburun’ (one round), but a split vote between three rival parties left the party just 4.55 percent short of the goal.

“I assure all of you that this man – myself – is not a person who will run out of options. This man, God willing, is not someone who will get tired. This man is not someone who will step back. We will go forward, forward, swiftly forward. God willing, we will win this election,” Nasheed said, beginning his address.

“We very clearly know the political realities of this country, and the hopes and sentiments of the citizens. The people have once again said a loud, resounding “no” to those who had led the long 30 year rule (of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) leader and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom),” he said.

“Even back in 2008, people said a loud ‘no’ to them. However, they were behind a coup d’état which ruined our Maldives. Everyone in this country has no doubt today that the people have said no to that dirty and foul act. The people want an MDP government, the people want development,” Nasheed continued.

“The people do not want to relive the experience of PPM’s 30 year rule. The people do not want torture in the jails. The people do not want religious scholars to be put under arrest. The people do not want to be banished or jailed for long periods, under article 38 [of the penal code], as a result of a word they may utter or a gesture they may make. The people do not want President Maumoon,” Nasheed said.

“The people do not want PPM. The people do not want Abdulla Yameen. The PPM is a party of 50,000 votes. They can continue to remain that way.”

“In the interests of their party, they may hold discussions with other politicians. But as I see it, the tails will be knotted amongst themselves. It will not be an alliance made among the citizens. The citizens are allied with the citizens. MDP is allied with the citizens. God willing, we will win this election for you,” Nasheed continued.

“God willing, they cannot topple this man again. Even if they do, God willing, we will get up again even more quickly. We will get up and sprint forward. God willing, we will complete this race,” he asserted.

“Do not get worried. Do not be anxious. Take a seat. Be comfortable. We will smoothly take this ship and moor it at peaceful shores. We can do this. We can easily win this election, and today the whole of the country knows this.”

Nasheed further stated that the party’s competitors, and friends who did not vote for the party, had not thought that the party could “gather such an overwhelming majority”, saying the results had left them astounded.

“They could not sleep last night, nor will they be able to sleep tonight. We will go ahead to win this election.”

“The people have seen how the 30 year regime was led. The people have seen the complete life of the candidate competing against me. You’ve also seen my life. Now you can weigh them, measure them against each other, and evaluate them. All of you gathered here, and all citizens, very clearly know what the people will decide. The decision of 95,000 citizens, this was not a mistake.”

“It was because of of ‘baaghee’ [traitor] Mohamed Waheed that we could not complete our five year term in government. What we faced last night was also because of this baaghee, Mohamed Waheed. God willing, now we are free of him. There is nowhere to go with the 10,000 votes he was able toget,” Nasheed said of his former Vice President and incumbent President Mohamed Waheed Hassan.

Nasheed also alleged that people from the PPM and Jumhoree Alliance were approaching MDP campaign managers in various islands, and himself, and expressing an interest in working together for the second round. He stated that these included former ministers who had served in Gayoom’s cabinet.

“The people do not want to crawl into an oil well, they want a roof over their heads. The people want to be able to get medical assistance when needed. To be able to educate their children in their islands. When boredom sets in, to have options of ridding themselves of it, to have options for their children to engage in exercise and physical activities,” he stated. “This vision is to be seen in the MDP manifesto.”

“The people do not want a government filled with nepotism. They do not want the leader’s wife or her family to continuously interfere and influence the government’s activities,” Nasheed said, continuing to criticise his opponents.

“The biggest challenge that Gayoom faced in his long 30 years is that he had to maintain a family-led government. He just was never able to move out of that. The people of the Maldives felt the bitterness of this. The people understand the benefits of having freedom of expression, freedom of assemblyand the freedom to carry out peaceful political activity. [They understand] the quite fond hope that this country is getting because of this system – that we can develop, that this country is rich in natural resources and that we do not have to live isolated and impoverished is very much clear to the people of this country.” he said.

“I assure the Maldivian people that, God willing, I will not go home without winning this election. This man will not get tired. This man will not step back. We will go forward, forward, swiftly forward,” Nasheed said, concluding his speech.

In addition to MDP presidential candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed, Chairperson Reeko Moosa Manik, Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid and a number of MPs spoke at the rally.

The MDP won the most number of votes, winning 45.45 percent in an election with 88.44 percent voter turnout. Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) will be contesting in the second round – scheduled for September 28 – having won 25.35 percent of the votes.

The Jumhoree coalition’s candidate Gasim Ibrahim came third with 24.07 percent, with incumbent President Mohamed Waheed Hassan receiving just 5.13 percent of the votes.

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MDP to resume campaigning for “few thousand extra votes” needed for second round win

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate, former President Mohamed Nasheed has stated that the party has resumed campaign activities on Sunday (September 8 ) to gather “the few thousand additional votes” needed to guarantee a win in the second round of the election scheduled for September 28.

“My first obligation, of course, is to thank every single Maldivian for participating in yesterday’s democratic election,” the candidate leading Saturday’s poll began.

Speaking to the press at his residence Kenereege for the first time since Saturday’s election, Nasheed stated that he did not believe anyone could describe the party’s total 45.45 percent of votes as “failing in the first round”.

“After three years of government we have received an overwhelming majority of over 95,000 votes. That is far, far more than, for instance, Gayoom managed to do after 30 years in government. And of course, Dr Waheed, after two years in government has failed so, so badly,” Nasheed said, referring to the incumbent’s 5.13 percent support in the first round.

“The election held yesterday was very well organised by the Elections Commission (EC). There were a few concerning issues about some ballot boxes. We believe that in some of the ballot boxes the voter turnout is much higher than the electoral list, and we would like the Elections Commission to explain these irregularities and discrepancies to us,” Nasheed said.

“As I see it, many Maldivians have voted for the MDP: over 95,000 citizens came out and voted in support of having our policies implemented. However, these 95,000 votes are still two or three thousand short of what we needed to win the election in a single round,” Nasheed claimed.

“Our discussions are now about what needs to be done to gain these two to three thousand additional votes that we need. There are things that this party knows for certain: as in, we know that, God willing, we will succeed if we put in hard work and maximum effort,” Nasheed said, adding that the party will hold a rally to initiate campaign efforts tonight.

“Many renowned and capable individuals in the Maldives who used to support or work for other political parties called me last night. I am speaking about many individuals from the Jumhoree Party (JP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP). What I have to tell them all is that MDP has development in its heart, we have no other objective. All persons are welcome to join us,” Nasheed said. He added that this included former ministers, as well as members of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s family.

“One of the biggest realities that has come to light due to the results of this election is that the citizens of the Maldives want an MDP government, they want good governance. Another reality that came to light from the results is that my former Vice President, ‘baaghee’ (traitor) Mohamed Waheed Hassan has no support at all, and that activities like [his] have no support in the country.”

“I still believe that it will be detrimental to the country’s development if we are to split up the cabinet to various parties,” Nasheed said, when asked if he planned to form alliances with other political parties for the second round.

He added that any individuals are welcome to work with the party to contribute to the development plans included in the party’s “Costed and Budgeted” manifesto.

“Some parties were creating a lot of deception under the pretence of speaking about Islam. I hope that these people will stop working in this manner. I believe that a small number of citizens get confused by these deceptive messages, but my hope is that in the next two weeks or so, they too will come to see the reality,” Nasheed responded, when asked what he felt could be the cause of failing – with such a narrow margin – to win the election in the first round itself.

“We will respect Islam and uphold its values. We will not place religion in trays and peddle it out like them,” said Nasheed.

International community

“What the international community now needs to understand is, despite what is written in the CONI (Commission of National Inquiry) report, MDP is the party that has the largest support base in the Maldives,” Nasheed stated.

“Unfortunately, the party which is ideologically closest to MDP has not been able to make much of a show in this election because of how they were led to work with Dr Waheed. I sometimes feel this is the work of the international community, who pushed the DRP towards Waheed, because they have been engaged in the politics of this country very heavily,” Nasheed alleged.

“They have always wanted Dr Waheed to come out with a better showing. And they have edged and shoved certain political groups in this country towards Dr Waheed,” Nasheed continued.

“I honestly hope that they will understand the realities of this country, and that they backed the wrong horse,” Nasheed said.

Battle lines

After narrowly finishing third during yesterday’s election with 24.07 percent of the vote, the Jumhoree Party (JP) said it had not yet decided on how it would approach a second round of voting. Despite coming third by just over a percent, the party said no decision had been taken over whether it would contest the provisional result.

“We need to consult the various party councils on how we will stand,” said JP Policy Secretary Mohamed Ajmal.

After a group of around 15 JP supporters demonstrated outside the Dharubaruge convention centre early on Sunday after of the Elections Commission (EC) unveiled the provisional election results, Ajmal said the party had not yet decided to contest the validity of the counting.

“We have raised some concerns with the EC about the voting process, but have not said we will contest [the poll],” he said. “We have alerted [the EC] of our concerns and they are gradually coming up with responses to them.”

According to Ajmal, the party has raised several concerns about how polling was conducted by the EC yesterday, including instances where certain individuals had reportedly been barred from voting, and cases of other people finding ballots already cast under their name.

EC President Fuwad Thowfeek today dismissed allegations of improper conduct during voting, but said the commission’s complaints department would investigate any reported irregularities.

Meanwhile, President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s campaign team said the incumbent would not be putting out a statement regarding his own intentions after Saturday’s result. A statement was expected later this week, according to a source in his team.

The Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) confirmed that senior officials including presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen and his running mate Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed had met in Male’ shortly after ballot counting had to discuss their second round plans.

MP Ahmed Nihan said at the time that the party had looked to meet with potential allies, including President Waheed and Gasim Ibrahim ahead of the second round, confirming that every other candidate who stood in the election against Nasheed would be invited “to be on-board” in the run-off.

MP Nihan and vice presidential candidate Dr Jameel were not responding to calls at time of press.

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Comment: Consolidating democracy

“A truth that many political parties active in the Maldives accept is that the MDP is unmatched when it comes to election campaigns,” declared a Haveeru report or op-ed published on April 21, 2013. The high praise was surprising coming from a publication that is not known to favour the Maldivian Democratic Party.

It was a sign of shifting political tides. The report appeared a day after the MDP held the largest rally by a political party in the country’s history to celebrate the signing of Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid. Grudging acknowledgment of the MDP’s grassroots support, innovation and enterprise was a common sentiment in the aftermath of the mass rally.

The most significant observation in the Haveeru report, to my mind, was this: “MDP is the party that introduced many democratic concepts [to the Maldives].” The author observed that it was the MDP that introduced “door to door campaigning,” “manifesto,” “haruge and campaign jagaha (meeting halls)” into the local vocabulary. Other political parties have since followed in the footsteps of the pioneering party by adopting these phrases.

The MDP was born out of a pro-democracy movement in the wake of unprecedented civil unrest in September 2003, which was precipitated by a custodial death exposed to the public and fatal shooting of inmates. The movement culminated in the election of Mohamed Nasheed as president in October 2008, ending a 30-year autocracy and heralding a new dawn for the Maldives with unheard-of levels of freedom of expression and civil liberties.

As a voter in tomorrow’s historic election, the considerations for choosing a candidate sadly remain much the same as in 2008. Five years ago, a majority reached the conclusion that Nasheed was the only choice. Apart from Ibrahim Ismail ‘Ibra,’ he was the only candidate with genuine democratic credentials. The others could not be trusted to dismantle the autocratic status quo.

The dictatorship of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was characterised by repression, torture, nepotism, wanton corruption, income inequality and self-serving Islamo-nationalist propaganda on state media. If Gayoom was re-elected and emboldened with a mandate, the fear was that he would crush the opposition and jail its leaders or force them into exile. An independent auditor general would not dare reveal illegal expenditure, the judiciary would remain under his thumb, and the nefarious security forces would once again be used to stifle dissent.

As for the rest, including current presidential candidate Gasim Ibrahim and his running mate Dr Hassan Saeed, they lost credibility to speak of democracy by perpetrating the televised coup d’etat on February 7, 2012 and because of their disgraceful behaviour while in opposition: relentless efforts to topple the government, blocking the Nasheed administration at every turn, obstructing essential tax reforms, deliberately sabotaging the economy and whipping up religious hatred. Their commitment to stability and democratic processes was on display at the Republic Square on the day we lost our hard-won democracy.

I believe the overriding issue of this election is saying no to the coup and police brutality. What is at stake here is a second chance at consolidating democracy. According to the “two-turnover test” of political scientist Samuel Huntington, an emergent democracy must undergo two peaceful transfers of power to become stable. The February 7 coup threatened a complete authoritarian reversal and imperilled the fraught transition. If the coup had not happened, tomorrow’s election would take the Maldives closer to a functioning democracy regardless of the winner. As it stands, the only hope is a victory for the democratic party.

It is for this reason that voters cannot afford to be apathetic. In established democracies such as the UK or US, a liberal could arguably rationalise non-participation in the political process if the choice is “voting for the lesser evil.”

The same cannot be said of the Maldives. It is harder to justify withholding support to the most liberal president we are likely to see in our lifetime when the other candidates represent a cabal of authoritarian loyalists, oligarchs and Islamists that employed mutinous security forces to overthrow the first democratically-elected government.

In other words, the possibility of coup perpetrators winning the election should be part of the equation for voters unconvinced by Nasheed. This election is bigger than one person. Idealists who cannot bring themselves to vote for Nasheed should consider the consequences of the alternative and take a long view: living in a police state ten years from now where the Islamist party has revamped the education curriculum. Whatever issue you have with Nasheed will seem petty then.

The track record of the coup government speaks for itself as a sign of things to come under “Baaghee” rule. Consider the following before you cast your ballot tomorrow,

* In the first 24 hours, the same Specialist Operations (SO) police officers who instigated the coup d’etat with a violent mutiny baton charged an MDP march, leaving dozens of unarmed civilians in the ICU with head injuries.

* Al Jazeera reported that “the police and military charged, beating demonstrators as they ran – women, the elderly, dozens left nursing their wounds.”

* In the wake of the brutal crackdown, the SO officers bore down on the capital’s two main hospitals and arrested dozens of people visiting their injured friends and relatives. The BBC reported “a baton charge by police on crowds gathered outside one of the main hospitals.”

* The toothless and politically-compromised Human Rights Commission of the Maldives was forced to acknowledge that the crackdown was “brutal” and “without warning.”

* Amnesty International observed in May 2012 that failure to prosecute police officers accused of human rights violations and “serious failings in the justice system entrenched impunity.”

* In a report titled “The Other Side of Paradise: A Human Rights Crisis in the Maldives,” Amnesty International warned that “the country is slipping back into the old pattern of repression and injustice.”

* In June this year, the police disciplinary board decided not to take any administrative action, such as suspension, against five officers facing criminal prosecution over police brutality on February 8, 2012. In the most egregious case of impunity, a staff sergeant who was caught on tape kicking a fallen protester was promoted despite the Police Integrity Commission forwarding a case against the officer for prosecution in May 2012.

* Pressed on police brutality, the California liberal Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan dismissed it as “a matter of opinion.”

* The Maldives was dropped from Freedom House’s list of electoral democracies “due to the forcible removal of democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed, violence perpetrated against him and his party, the suspension of the parliament’s summer session, and the role of the military in facilitating these events.”

* The Maldives plummeted to 103rd in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, a return to pre-2008 levels after climbing to 51st in 2009. I can personally testify to the state of press freedom in the aftermath of the coup. On August 30, 2012, I was arrested for the crime of pointing a camera at SO officers.

* Weeks after coming to power, the new government rewarded resort tycoons by allowing extended resort leases to be paid in instalments rather than upfront or in a lump sum at the end of the lease. The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) revealed in April 2012 that revenue collected in March was 37.9 percent lower than the projected revenue “mainly due to the unrealised revenue from the Lease Extension Period.” The lost revenue amounted to MVR352 million (US$23 million).

* Despite an ongoing budget crisis, the government had the funds to promote more than 1000 officers, hire 110 new officers, seek recruits for a “special constabulary” reserve force, introduce a loan scheme for police officers, make arrangements for officers and their families to receive cheap accommodations and medical treatment in Sri Lanka and award 600 flats to police and military officers.

* In January 2013, former chief of police intelligence, Chief Superintendent Mohamed ‘MC’ Hameed revealed to a parliamentary committee that 1,112 officers were promoted the previous year despite only 600 forms being submitted under the normal promotion procedure. “What we saw was that officers with a disciplinary record from the floor to the ceiling were given promotion by the executive board,” Hameed told MPs.

* In late November 2012, the Finance Ministry revealed that GDP growth of the tourism industry had flatlined in 2012 to 0.7 percent, falling from 15.8 percent in 2010 and 9.1 percent in 2011. Economic growth meanwhile slowed to an anaemic 3.5 percent, significantly down from 7.1 percent growth in 2010 and 7 percent in 2011.

* In February 2012, the new administration abolished the Maldives Volunteer Corps.

* The public sector wage bill skyrocketed 37 percent in 2013 with MVR1.3 billion in additional recurrent expenditure, including a 14 percent hike in military spending and plans to hire 864 new staff for the security services.

* “[The coup perpetrators] have destroyed US$2-3 billion worth of investment and condemned the country to an unstable economic future based upon diesel”: Mike Mason in June 2012.

* In June this year, the government accused UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers of undermining “national jurisdiction and the court system.”

* In November 2012, the President’s Office Spokesperson publicly insulted the Indian High Commissioner, sparking a diplomatic incident and souring relations with India.

* In the next month, the government arbitrarily terminated a concession agreement with the GMR-MAHB consortium to manage and develop the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, a move that arguably shattered investor confidence and could force the country to pay the GMR US$1.4 billion as compensation.

* In December 2012, the pro-government majority in parliament passed a draconian law that restricts freedom of assembly.

* Also in December 2012, it emerged that the Maldives would be omitted from Transparency International’s global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) due to “insufficient data.”

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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We will win Male’ City majority, claims PPM MP

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has expressed confidence it will secure a majority of the popular vote in Male’ during the presidential election scheduled for tomorrow (September 7).

In a press conference held Thursday (September 5), Party Spokesperson MP Ahmed Mahloof said that both the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and PPM dominated popular support among voters in the capital.

However, he claimed that the MDP would not be able to compete with the PPM in terms of voter support in the capital.

The opposition MDP, led by the former President Mohamed Nasheed, has meanwhile predicted that the party will receive 25,000 votes from Male’ during tomorrow’s vote.  The MDP has said it’s predictions were based on Elections Commission (EC) statistics that confirmed it to be the largest political party in the country – both in terms of party membership and parliamentary representation.

Speaking during a campaign rally last week, former President Nasheed said that although the party had received 11,000 votes in the first round of 2008 presidential election and 16,000 in the subsequent run-off election weeks later, he “very much expects to get 25,000 votes from Male this time.”

The former president had contended that the figures were based on the party’s door-to-door campaigns, during which the party representatives had visited almost all the households in Male City.

However, Mahloof dismissed Nasheed’s prediction.

“[MDP] won’t get the result they expect from the elections. However, they will be our closest competitor. MDP will have a close contest with our party. Even from my constituency I can see that. MDP is our strongest competitor. Gasim Ibrahim will also get slight portion of the vote and even President Mohamed Waheed Hassan will get two or three votes,” he said.

Mahloof predicted said that PPM will win the presidential election from a run-off election, but was positioned to obtain at least a minimum of 44 percent of the popular vote while the MDP garnered the second largest number of votes.

Should no candidate be able to obtain the required ’50 percent plus one vote’ to secure a first round election victory, a run-off election is expected to be held within 20 days from the first round.

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Loyalty, support, money: The motivation behind Male’s political decoration

In the months leading to the September 7 presidential election, the streets of Maldives have erupted into a mosaic of party banners, with posters, flags, banners, and graffiti decorating every street corner.

While it may seem to an onlooker that the amount of material each party has placed around the country represents the amount of public support they enjoy, some volunteers putting up the decorations suggest another side to the story.

Party supporters are largely responsible for the colourful displays, but some parties are accused of spending thousands on hiring groups to help them keep up with the campaign craze, oftentimes spending large funds on the process.

“Doing it for democracy”

“We’re doing this for democracy. We don’t want any money or incentives for this. All we want is an elected government that cares about the people”, one group of young graffiti artists painting Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) themed artwork in their neighbourhood told Minivan News.

“The thing is, if we don’t get involved and try to guarantee a better life for ourselves, why would anyone else bother? I’m all for MDP, especially after the rest of the political lot brought about the coup d’etat. That is the ultimate shove of their boot against the people, a blatant admission from the ‘baaghees’ that they have no respect or concern for the common man,” said Ahmed Affan, a 26 year old man, an accountant who volunteers in his free time with a team hoisting MDP flags across the streets of Male’.

Another 23 year old volunteer who frequents MDP campaign offices during his free time to help out with banner and t-shirt printing explained his own motivations: “With the best manifesto and policies, I want MDP to win of course, I volunteer to help as I believe our artwork and ideas would get the message across in additional ways to the public and help gather more support.”

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) teams also told Minivan News that they were voluntarily engaging in campaign decorating.

“It’s ‘Zaeem’ [Supreme leader – referring to former President and Leader of PPM Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] who has done the most for our poor country. We will do whatever he wants of us. We are determined to have our candidate [Abdulla Yameen – half brother of Gayoom] have a clear win in the election, and we are spreading this message to as many people as possible,” said a 37 year old man hoisting PPM flags and putting up posters down a street in Galolhu.

One team of PPM volunteers refused to speak with Minivan News, stating, “Our leadership refuses to speak to you, and that means we have nothing to say to you either.”

“Heartfelt support” vs “just for the money”

Aishath Zubaira, a 63 year old supporter of President Dr Mohamed Waheed, who has posters of her preferred candidate on the walls of her residence, says she supports him “with heart and soul”.

While Minivan News spoke with two different groups streaming the streets with strings of small ‘Forward with the Nation’ coalition flags, they had contradicting reasons for doing so.

“Waheed’s a capable man, and the majority of his supporters are mature and, well, kind of elderly to be honest. There are few young people like us who are aware of just how much Waheed can do for this country, so we need to come out and help make him more popular,” said a 43 year old volunteer, holding a dozen or so rolled up posters sporting photos of Waheed with his running mate, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

Another man who appeared to be in his late twenties, who introduced himself as “Issey”, put up posters and distributed copies of the coalition’s manifesto. “It doesn’t matter which candidate’s campaigning I am doing, it’s not even like these ugly flags and photos will make a difference for any party,” he said.

“I sometimes even go with the Jumhooree Party guys. Point is, this is an excellent time to make some money on the side and I’m going to make the best use of it. But then, I know who I’m voting for and no one’s got any business asking me who it is.”

“They spend like crazy, we earn like crazy”

A 31 year-old man working at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) told Minivan News – on condition of anonymity – that he works in one of Jumhooree Party (JP) coalition’s campaign teams of six to ten persons each.

“When we finish putting up the strings of flags across a street, we need to ring a number that the party has given us. Then a party official will turn up with a file which has information on when and where the teams are active. They will put a tick confirming the job is done and pay us in cash on the spot. We get about MVR 3000 (US$195) a night on average,” he explained.

“Some teams wait a while after the official has left and then cut off the recently hung flags, thereby allowing some other team to earn from the same street a few days later. It’s probably not right, but well, the politicians spend like crazy when elections near, and so us lucky folks earn like crazy.”

Another young volunteer laughed when asked for his reason for being so actively involved in campaign activity, “Every JP graffiti artwork that goes up is a job done for about MVR 10,000 (US$650). We’re economizing the situation when there is a demand for skills like ours. Nothing wrong with that, eh?”

According to local media reports, Police have arrested at least eight people for cutting off lines of flags of various political parties in late August, though police media officials were not responding to calls at the time of press for confirmation.

Visit our facebook page for more pictures as Male’ dresses for the election

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Police Commissioner was appointed legally, says integrity commission

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has stated that Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz was appointed to the position in compliance with the Police Act, and that his appointment was lawful.

In a statement issued today, the police said that the PIC had sent a document informing them about this conclusion and stating that the PIC had decided Riyaz was appointed in compliance with Police Act 2008/5 article 52(a) and 52(b).

Police said that President Dr Waheed Hassan had appointed Riyaz on Feburay 8, 2012. Before Dr Waheed appointed him as the commissioner, the Home Minister Mohamed Ahmed Jameel had appointed him as Assistant Police Commissioner  on the same day.

According to media reports the PIC investigated the case after some politicians expressed doubts over  the legitimacy of Riyaz’s position.

On August 20, Riyaz posted a letter he claimed to have been sent, urging the police to “say no” to former President Mohamed Nasheed on September 7, just as they had on February 7 – an event the author described as a “jihad”.

The letter, addressed to the entire police force, praised officers for their “patience” in the face of Nasheed’s “cunning” and “malicious” actions during his presidency.

On August 24, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) issued a statement stating that the ”MDP firmly believe that Riyaz, by choosing to tweet the image of this particular letter against a candidate running in the presidential elections has contravened the codes of conducts enshrined in the Police Act and the Presidential Elections Act.”

Riyaz was appointed commissioner immediately after Nasheed’s resignation, which Nasheed and MDP would later claim was a police coup. The party has also repeatedly questioned the legality of Riyaz’s role on February 7.

The allegations were later rejected by a Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) that ruled that there had been “no coup, no duress and no mutiny”, while also calling for action taken against unlawful acts committed by the country’s security forces following the transfer.

During the statement regarding Riyaz’s social media activity, the party again raised the issue of the police commissioner’s legitimacy.

”The MDP notes that this is unfortunately not the first instance where Mr Riyaz, appointed in dubious circumstances, has used his position in a blatantly politically manner,” the MDP statement read.

”The MDP would like to draw attention to Riyaz’s role in the February 7 2012 forceful overthrow of government, subsequent police brutality, impunity and lack of accountability, politically motivated detentions, unconstitutional barring of Raajje TV from police service events, the refusal to accept summons by parliamentary select committees and the extensive interview he recently gave on a policy which was alleged to be the MDP’s.”

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State broadcaster hosts Presidential Debate ahead of September 7 election

State broadcaster Television Maldives on Sunday aired a live question and answer session with the four candidates contesting the September 7 presidential election.

Moderator Heena Waleed stated that the questions asked – concerning education, health and economy, development and social protection – were based on a survey done by the Maldives National University (MNU) on citizens’ concerns.

The candidates included Gasim Ibrahim representing the Jumhoree Coalition – consisting of the Jumhoree Party (JP), Adhaalath Party (AP), Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and former PPM interim deputy president Umar Naseer and supporters, President Mohamed Waheed contesting as an independent candidate in coalition with the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) coalition, Abdulla Yameen representing the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) coalition, and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Mohamed Nasheed.

TVM also held a running mates’ debate on August 26.

In their introductory statements Gasim, Waheed and Yameen spoke of the “deteriorating standard of living, torn up social fabric and the lack of peace and unity”, pledging to rectify these issues if elected.

Waheed said that he had assumed power in very dangerous times – referring to 7 February 2012’s controversial transfer of power – “I will remain a faithful leader,” he pledged.

Nasheed focused on reiterating the policies covered in MDP’s “Costed and Budgeted” manifesto, which was released on August 24.

Education policies

The first question posed concerned what changes would be brought to the education system, with the host claiming that  many citizens felt that while the country followed the UK system, other South Asian countries had “far better systems with a higher pass percentages”. This was followed by asking how the candidates planned to increase the number of people interested to pursue a career in teaching.

All candidates spoke of making arrangements to allow teachers to work on their islands of origin, to provide accommodation, and of introducing or continuing vocational technical training and higher education opportunities.

The three candidates from the current government’s unity coalition also emphasised that building interest in the field depended on how much financial and other incentives can be offered, pledging to increase them.

Gasim added that he will introduce Islam, Dhivehi and Quran as subjects, although all three are already taught in primary and secondary schools. He also said that all students in and above Grade 8 will be given a laptop and an internet connection under his government.

Nasheed spoke of his previous three years in office, noting that he had introduced single sessions for 150 schools, built 243 classrooms, and worked towards increasing the the number of students who passed at least five subjects in GCE O’Level examinations. He said that if elected, his administration will continue these efforts while also training educators to conduct multi-grade teaching.

Economy

Candidates were asked to name three steps that could be taken immediately to strengthen the country’s weakened economic status.

Gasim spoke of decreasing the deficit and establishing a tax system.

Waheed highlighted the importance of broadening existing industries, claiming that he was currently holding discussions with foreign bodies to introduce new industries including financial and ICT services.

He also claimed that he had brought down the budget deficit from 14 percent to 5 percent.

Yameen spoke of increasing investor confidence and establishing special courts to look into cases of concern for the investors. He added that fishermen would be given “a monthly salary of MVR 10,000 (US$650) whether they catch fish or not.”

“In the first two years we will make the budget zero or completely get rid of deficit. In the remaining three years there will be a budget surplus,” Yameen stated.

Nasheed stated that his party’s aim is to decrease the difference between the rich and the poor, adding that this can be achieved through setting up a solid tax system.

“It is very important to decrease debt. Although Waheed just claimed otherwise, our economic situation has been deteriorating ever since he brought about the coup d’etat. Debt is at 82 percent of GDP, there is a huge deficit, inflation is extremely high,” Nasheed retorted, adding that an MDP government would work to bring all of this back into balance again.

While all spoke of how the difficulty of getting foreign currency in the country could be addressed through increasing foreign investment, Nasheed alleged that investors are reluctant to invest in the Maldives “after the coup d’etat and the harassment of investors following it, including sending our investors without any justification”.

Waheed responded by saying that “It is ridiculous to claim we are not getting foreign investments now. They are very eagerly coming, even more now. One example of a great investor that I brought in recently is BlackStone.”

The US private equity firm bought both Maldivian seaplane operators, Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) and Maldivian Air Taxi (MAT), in February 2013 for an undisclosed sum.

Cost of living

All candidates pledged to establish sewerage and water systems on all islands.

Asked about policies focused on permanently reducing costs of electricity, Waheed and Nasheed spoke of increasing the use of renewable energy.

“While some people spend time acting in movies with the pretence of ‘protecting environment’ and managed to make no more than US$11 million available for renewable energy, in the past one and a half years I have raised US$200 million. I will make 30 islands run 100 percent on solar energy in the next two to three years,” Waheed claimed, referring to Nasheed’s documentary, the Island President, filmed while Waheed was serving as Vice President in Nasheed’s administration.

Gasim also spoke of introducing solar energy, promising to “create power stations and then connect them with a grid through submarine cables or something like this. In order to bring down electricity prices, we will maintain the same price countrywide for wheat flour, rice and sugar”.

Social protection

All candidates except Nasheed spoke of establishing centres to care for the elderly. Nasheed’s proposal is to continue offering a pension to the elderly.

“I plan to build rehabilitation centres for the elderly in the atolls, which can be managed with the cooperation of the community. The problem of elderly or of health can be dealt with through a sustainable insurance scheme,” Yameen said.

Gasim said: “As Muslims, we see parents taking care of children, treating them like [the apple of their] eye. And we should return this care when parents grow old. Our manifesto also says we will provide health care through insurance or something so I have no worries about that,” Gasim stated.

Waheed, meanwhile, pledged to increase the current monthly allowance to the elderly of MVR 2300 to MVR 3500, while Yameen said he will increase it to MVR 5000.

End notes

Waheed was mainly asked how much independence should be granted to the judiciary, to which he responded, “I don’t think that in the history of the Maldives, except in the past year and a half, there has been a single president who did not meddle with the judiciary. I have never done so, and I never will.”

“I have done as much work as anyone else here to bring democracy and I will protect it. But differing opinions can’t be an excuse to commit arson and murder. A lot of people even accused me of not wanting to hold elections, but look, we are having elections soon. I will remain a faithful leader,” Waheed stated.

Responding to a question on what assistance would be provided to pre-schools if he was elected, Yameen said he would ensure that pre-schools stop charging fees.

“An elected president must be someone who will spend all day, every day thinking about nothing but the country’s economy,” he ended.

Gasim, asked about corruption and gang violence, among other topics, focused mostly on reviewing existing laws. He said he is of the opinion that corruption is lower in the private sector, adding that salary increments for government posts could be a possible solution.

He also said that gang crimes can be dealt with by introducing legal frameworks into the school curriculum and offering rehabilitation to gang members, while better implementing legal action against gang crimes.

“I will do all possible to make Maldives into a country like Singapore or Dubai,” was Gasim’s concluding statement.

Questions posed to Nasheed were regardingthe high level of corruption, separation of powers, and concerns that political activity and its broad media coverage has decreased national unity.

“Some people feel that remaining behind an authoritative leader without asking questions is unity. But in the new constitution we adopted, there has to be differences in opinion. We must be able to conduct freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,” Nasheed began.

“Our aim was to expose and reveal all corruption cases that we discovered. This led to the illusion that corruption increased. However, after the coup, we have not seen the audit of the coup regime’s spending, nor has the corruption index been publicized. We will govern with transparency.”

He ended saying that Maldives needs to rid itself of its culture of coup d’etats, adding “we see the situation the people that called themselves “the unity government” is in now. The insults they hurl at each other are far harsher.”

Nasheed closed the show criticising his opponents for the lack of projects completed in the past one and a half years, while saying, “the people of Maldives are aware that the competitors are “baaghee” [traitor] who are part of a coup regime. The people want governments to change through votes. The people will no longer give a chance to those who flee at every sign of political turmoil.”

Watch the debate:

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Supreme Court rules on Elections Commission case

Additional reporting by Daniel Bosley

The Maldives Supreme Court has today (September 2) issued its ruling on the case filed last week by Ahmed Zaneen Adam, questioning the Elections Commission’s (EC) ability to oversee the coming presidential election.

The Supreme Court has issued an order requiring all relevant authorities to ensure a free and fair presidential election on Saturday, local media reported. The ruling did not specifically address all of Zaneen’s concerns, however.

Senior member of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Zaneen, filed a case requesting an audit into the EC’s IT system as well as a ruling confirming the legal mandate of security services to ensure a secure election.

Whilst neither of these issues are reported to have been directly ruled upon by the court today, it did address issues concerning the electoral register.

Sun Online reported that the order –  issued by five of the bench’s seven judges – pointed out the register contained names and addresses that did not always match and also the names of deceased citizens.

Lists containing the names of deceased people was used by the police earlier this year to investigate complaints of fraudulent party membership forms.  Today’s ruling is also said to have revealed the absence on the register of voters who had relocated to Male’ between 2009-10 in order be rehoused as part of the Hulhumale’ development project.

The court stressed that it was the EC’s duty to correct such errors without being prompted by individual complaints. Despite his position with the PPM, the party insisted that the case had been filed in Zaneen’s personal capacity.

Responding to the case last Friday, head of the EC’s legal team, former Attorney General Husnu Al Suood, contested that Zaneen’s case lacked any legal grounds and that he had filed requested preventive measures based on his personal concerns and doubt.

Zaneen’s case came after weeks of criticism from both the PPM and the Jumhoree Party towards the EC, particularly concerning the commission’s  use of Indian IT staff.  EC chief Fuwad Thowfeek told Minivan News earlier this month that he was confident that no grounds for legal action existed.

“We have so much confidence in our work – we have done really good, professional work – that we are giving it openly [to the public] to see and tell the EC if we have incorrectly listed any person in the voter registry or if any person is missing,” he said.

“If anybody is missing from the list, we will very clearly tell them why the person is missing,” he added.

Thowfeek stressed that the EC had consistently acted with openness, working closely with –  listening to the complaints – of all parties.

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