Umar Naseer has resubmitted a case at the Civil Court to try and invalidate the outcome of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) primary vote – days after the same court dismissed a similar legal claim on a technicality.
A spokesperson for the Civil Court confirmed that Naseer yesterday (May 5) submitted the case under his own name after a judge dismissed the matter on the grounds that the party member who originally filed the case had not herself been one of the candidates competing in the vote.
Naseer, who contested the PPM presidential primary against the party’s Parliamentary Group Leader and eventual winner MP Abdullah Yameen, has since been removed from the party after accusing his rival of corrupt practices to secure his victory.
All allegations of vote corruption during the primary have been denied by Yameen and senior PPM figures.
According to a Civil Court spokesperson, the case resubmitted today by Naseer was believed to be “almost exactly the same” as the one filed by a PPM member on April 18 with the exception of a few “small changes”. The court official said that Umar Naseer was also believed to have requested an interim order along with the case, though no further details were available at time of press on the nature of the request.
As Naseer’s case has yet to be registered officially at the court, the spokesperson said that no date had as yet been scheduled for when a hearing into the matter would be taking place.
A separate case has also previously been filed by Naseer at the Civil Court contesting his dismissal form the party whilst legal action was being undertaken.
Naseer has previously said he does not provide any information or interviews to Minivan News.
PPM MPs Abdulla Yameen and Ahmed Mahloof were not responding to calls at time of press.
Earlier case
The previous case seeking to invalidate the PPM primary was submitted by party member Rahma Moosa, who alleged that thousands of voters were not officially registered with the PPM at the time they cast votes on their preferred party candidate.
Moosa reportedly filed the case claiming that 8,915 people who were not officially registered as members of PPM had been allowed to vote in the primary. She contended that the move contravened the Political Party Act and compromised the rights of all general members of the party.
Divisions between certain PPM supporters have appeared following March’s primary, after Naseer accused his MP Yameen of having controlled all of the party’s organs, including the council and election committee, and had “rigged” the vote in his favour by ballot stuffing, falsifying the count.
Having previously denied the accusations, current senior representatives for the PPM have pledged to move past the dispute, with local media reporting that a rally scheduled to be held Friday (May 3) to announce MP Yameen’s running mate for the presidential elections was postponed as a result of adverse weather.
(0)Dislikes
(0)