Tag: Progressive Party of Maldives

Adhaalath, PPM accuses government of influencing Fuvahmulah by-election

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and religious conservative Adhaalath Party has accused senior government officials of illegally influencing the by-election held in Fuvamulah last Saturday for a vacant atoll council seat.

In a statement yesterday, Adhaalath Party said it had received information that the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) carried out a number of activities to influence voting.

Transport Minister Adhil Saleem, Tourism Minister Dr Mariyam Zulfa and Education Minister Shifa Mohamed were in Fuvahmulah on the day of the vote, Adhaalath noted, alleging that the ministers summoned Fuvamulah managers and staff at the State Trading Organization (STO) Fuvamulah branch as well as the island’s hospital and “threatened” and ordered them to vote for MDP candidate.

Education Minister Shifa phoned heads of Fuvamulah schools and asked them to vote for the MDP candidate, Adhaalath claimed.

“Fuvamulah islanders in Male’ were carried on flights to the Fuvamulah for the vote,” Adhaalath said in the statement. “When the ministers went near the area where the ballot boxes were kept to influence the election, islanders sent them away.”

PPM Media Coordinator and Vili-Maafanu MP Ahmed Nihan told Minivan News today that three cabinet ministers and senior officials of the State Trading Organisation (STO) were actively campaigning and “going door to door” on the day of the by-election.

“PPM calls on the Elections Commission (EC) to investigate the government’s intimidation of voters and violation of democratic principles,” he said.

Senior officials of STO told Fuvahmulah residents that work on the island’s airport could stop if they did not elect an MDP councillor, Nihan claimed.

Such actions by senior government officials cast doubt on the fairness of the by-election, Nihan argued.

Nihan said the EC should have a “better probing mechanism” to answer complaints of undue influence over elections, adding that an official should have been monitoring the situation on the ground.

Tourism Minister Dr Maryam Zulfa however dismissed the allegations today and said that the purpose of the minister’s visit was to brief the islanders and councillors about the government projects planned and ongoing in Fuvamulah.

“We did not take part in any campaign activities and the only persons we met were the island councilors and atoll councilors and we had a meeting open for all the people of Fuvamulah,” she said. “There are so many investments made in Fuvamulah and we were advised not to let it die there.”

PPM member Abdulla Mohamed Didi – who ran as an Independent as PPM had not completed the registration process – won Saturday’s by-election for the mid-Fuvahmulah atoll council seat with 861 votes (52 percent) to the 750 votes (46 percent) for the MDP candidate, Mohamed Abdulla Didi.

The seat had previously been held by MDP councillor Hassan Saeed, who was removed from the post after the Supreme Court ruled in October that his candidacy should have been disqualified over a decreed debt.

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PPM to protest for ‘protection’ of judiciary

Weeks after the  ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said it would protest over the political compromising of judicial independence by members of the former government, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has said it protest “to protect” the judiciary.

PPM Council member Ahmed Saleem today told Minivan News that the PPM’s decision came following attempts made by the current government “to influence the judiciary.”

”The government recently has clearly said that they will not allow any trial to be conducted if it is not going the way they want,” Saleem alleged. ”There are many persons who have been sued in the current government and they do not want their cases to be trialed, that is the reason why they are trying to influence the judiciary.”

Saleem said PPM had decided “to be on standby” to come out and protest, although the party had not decided any on specific time or date.

”A case concerning a Criminal Court Judge is currently in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the government is attempting to influence it as well,” he claimed. ”We will not let it happen.”

Recently the JSC completed its investigation into the alleged misconduct of Chief Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed.

The case against Abdulla Mohamed was presented to the JSC in January 2010 by former President’s member of the JSC, Aishath Velezinee, after Abdulla Mohamed appeared on private TV station DhiTV and expressed “biased political views”.

In 2005, then Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed forwarded to the President’s Office concerns about the conduct of Abdulla Mohamed after he requested that an underage victim of sexual abuse reenact her abuse for the court.

In 2009 following the election of the current government, those documents were sent to the JSC.

Last week MDP Chairperson and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik and other senior officials including former President of the party Ibrahim Ismail ‘Ibra’ held a press conference where Moosa said that no rulings made by Abdulla Mohamed should be implemented.

Speaking during the press conference, Ibra said that there were many cases pending in the JSC against Abdulla Mohamed, and that this was the first such case to be concluded.

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Umar Naseer, MP Abdul Raheem elected PPM deputies

The Progressive Party of Maldives’ (PPM) interim council elected two deputy presidents through a secret ballot at the council’s first official meeting last night.

Former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Umar Naseer and former People’s Alliance MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla won with 21 votes and 9 votes respectively.

The other two candidates, MPs Ahmed Nihan and Hamdhoon Hameed, each received 7 votes.

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PPM completes registration process

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s newly-formed Progressive Party of Maldives was officially registered by the Elections Commission (EC) last week with 3,200 members.

Newspaper Haveeru reports EC Chair Fuad Thaufeeq as saying at the registration ceremony that the passage of legislation governing political parties was very important for the commission to carry its out responsibilities.

The bill has been in committee stage for over a year and a half.

PPM held its inaugural convention on October 15 and voted for an interim president, interim council, manifesto, party constitution, logo and colour.

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MDP MP calls on Speaker to use armed forces to control parliament

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Mustafa has sent a text message to the Speaker of the parliament Abdulla Shahid calling on him to invoke his authority to use armed forces to control MPs that disrupt parliament meetings.

In the text, he tells Shahid that Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MPs were making plans to delay passing the amendment presented by the government to the Import/Export Act, which he said will decrease prices of goods in the market.

”This amendment presented by MDP MP Ibrahim Rasheed, after spilling blood in the parliament as you will recall, will decrease the prices of all types of food items and construction materials and other basic products that citizens need,” Mustafa explained in the text. ”The amendment will cut Rf 1700 million from import duties.”

Mustafa said the PPM MPs were concerned that if the amendment was passed it would “benefit the citizens and MDP will gain more support.”

”Many businessmen in the country are waiting for the day that this amendment gets passed and ratified by the President,” he said in the text he sent to Shahid. ”Due to these reasons I believe that you should invoke the authority to use armed forces to get disruptive MPs out of the parliament’ chamber.”

He said the citizens would not accept the work of the parliament coming to a halt due to a political game.

However, PPM Media Coordinator and MP Ahmed Nihan said that the PPM was not concerned that the amendment might get passed.

”PPM is concerned that the MDP MPs are demanding to hold the parliament meeting with Independent MP Ibrahim Abdul Hameed present, who was recently sentenced and his seat is supposed to be vacant,” Nihan said. ”What if later at some point the High Court and the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s ruling and declares that his seat is vacant?If that happens, then another issue will be raised – how do we know if the votes he gives now are valid?”

Nihan said according to the constitution the seat should be vacant.

”Mustafa and Reeko Moosa Manik claim to know things the KGB, MOSSAD and CIA do not know. They say whatever comes to their mouth,” he said. ”There will be no one on earth who believes what they say.”

Nihan said that the reason the PPM did not support GST was that it would increase the prices of goods at the market.

In July this year four MPs of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP) Z-faction, who are now MPs of PPM, were forcibly removed from the chamber after Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim invoked the Speaker’s authority to evict disruptive MPs by force from the parliament floor.

Z-DRP MPs Ahmed Mahlouf, Ilham Ahmed and Ali Arif were forcibly taken out of the chamber by MNDF officers while MP Ahmed Nihan left of his own accord.

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PG asks police to provide details of protest response

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) office has asked the police to provide details of its response to the protest held by ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) outside the Supreme Court on Thursday, which later spread to the residence of the former President.

Prosecutor General Ahmed Muiz told Minivan he was unable to comment on the matter at this time.

However Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said this was the first time the PG had made such a request.

“They are requesting details of what happened,” Shiyam confirmed, but said the PG had not notified police of a potential course of action or what it was looking for.

Shiyam pointed out that demonstrations in certain areas, including courts and army gates, are prohibited by the Regulation on Assembly.

“Members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) have both gathered in these areas though, even though we have requested them not to. Some of them have gone to the army gates and the President’s gate as well, so occasionally we have to address the issue,” he said.

The police have been asked to provide the information before Wednesday this week.

On Thursday October 20 the MDP national council conducted an emergency meeting and approved a resolution to launch a protest against the judiciary, claiming judges were unduly influenced by the former President and his half-brother MP Abdulla Yameen.

The protesters gathered at the Supreme Court before marching towards the former President’s building Endherimaage, where violent clashes erupted between MDP activists and a few Gayoom supporters blocking the entrance to his residence.

Minivan News journalists at the scene also observed gravel, rocks, hot water and sharp metal raining down on protesters from the top floors or terrace of Endherimaage.

Several activists claimed they saw Gassan Maumoon, former President Gayoom’s son, throw stones and pour boiling hot water on the protesters. MDP activists meanwhile threw large stones at Endhirmaage and attempted to break down the door. Some windows of the house were smashed while a car parked outside was damaged.

A 17-year-old, identified as Hussein Hassan, was rushed to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) with critical injuries after a block of wood apparently thrown from the building hit his head. IGMH later confirmed that the boy was conscious and his condition stable.

Police summoned Gassan Maumoon, son of the former President, for questioning on Saturday after a number of MDP members alleged they had seen him throw the block of wood from the balcony. Police subsequently arrested Gassan and took him to the prison island of Dhoonidhoo, and presented him at court this afternoon. The hearing is currently ongoing.

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PPM Submits 3600 forms to Elections Commission

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has submitted 3600 forms to the Elections Commission, 600 more more than the amount required to register a political party.

Media Coordinator of PPM and MP Ahmed Nihan said there were many more party registration forms filled which had not been submitted today, so as to hasten the registration procedure.

“If too many registration forms are submitted at once it will take a long time for the Elections Commission to approve all the forms. We just want to hasten the registration procedure and finish it soon so we can get on with our next steps,’’ Nihan said.

Nihan claimed that “many Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members” and members from other parties have signed up for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s new party, PPM.

‘’The additional 600 forms were because sometimes due to information errors or other errors forms get rejected, so as a backup to replace any form that might get rejected,’’ Nihan said adding that he believes that “all forms are genuine”.

Nihan said today at the Elections Commission building none of the commission members showed up to meet the senior PPM figures, and said he regretted the incident.

‘’When some particular persons go to register a political party, the commission members take them to the hall and serves food and juice with a warm welcome. It is very unfair,’’ He said. ‘’It is we who appointed them for the commission and today the commission members were like a selfish soothsayer who pops his head out from the window when a normal person goes to see him.’’

He said that several parliamentarians and other senior figures in the PPM went today to the parliament to submit the relevant forms. Currently there were 14 MPs in the party and “very soon” the number would reach 20 or 21, he added.

President of the Elections Commisison Fuad Thaufeeq today told Minivan News that it was true that no commission member met with the PPM delegation.

‘’The commission has always treated all political parties equally and has applied the same procedure on all the parties, we always meet with senior officials of parties when the first 50 forms are submitted to the commission, and we met with senior officials from the PPM when they submitted the first 50 forms,’’ Fuad said.

Fuad explained that the forms will always be received by the staffs at the reception.

‘’The next time commission members meet with senior officials will be the day when the registration process is concluded and the 3000 forms are approved,’’ he said. ‘’That is the procedure we apply for all the political parties.’’

He said that the commission was free from influence and pressure and could not be pressured or influenced.

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Thasmeen warns DRP councillors against helping PPM recruit members

Main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has warned that the party’s island and atoll councillors who help the newly-formed Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) – led by former DRP ‘Zaeem’ or Honorary Leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom – recruit members will be dismissed from DRP.

Thasmeen told MNBC One today that the party’s charter outlined procedures for disciplinary action against members who violate the charter or party rules and regulations.

PPM Spokesperson MP Ahmed Mahlouf told local media last week that the party would seek to amend the Decentralisation Act to allow councillors to quit their parties without losing their seats.

Thasmeen however said that the law should not be changed merely because it puts the newly-formed party at a disadvantage.

The Decentralisation Act was passed in a completely partisan vote after MPs of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) walked out in protest of the high number of councillors and the committee decision to scrap province councils in the original draft legislation.

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Gayoom’s new party to be called Progressive Party of Maldives

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom announced today that the new party formed under his leadership is to be called the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Speaking at a live press conference at private broadcaster DhiTV, Gayoom revealed that the party’s charter has been drafted and registration forms would be submitted to the Elections Commission (EC) today.

“We are forming a new political party to achieve very important national purposes,” he said. “That is to strengthen Islam in the country and maintain Islam as a religion that we all love and respect, to fully protect our independence and sovereignty, to establish a strong democratic system in the Maldives, ensure happiness and prosperity to the people, to reform the country to make it a place where people would want to live, uphold public order, peace and stability, and facilitate equality opportunity for everyone to advance.”

Gayoom explained that he resigned as ‘Honorary Leader’ (Zaeem) of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) yesterday because his efforts to reform the party over the past several months were unsuccessful.

Gayoom invited experienced politicians, “capable and educated youth” and skilled professionals to join the party. The former President expressed gratitude to those who assisted and supported the formation of the Progressive Party.

Asked repeatedly by reporters if he intended to contest in the party’s presidential primary, Gayoom stressed that he had not made a decision and would do so “when the time comes.”

“My answer is that the time [for a primary] has not come and we’ll know when it does,” he said, refusing to rule out a possible bid for the presidency in 2013.

On whether his role as leader of the new party contradicted an announcement in February 2010 that he was retiring from active politics, Gayoom said he made the decision based on the assurance that the DRP would function “according to certain principles.”

“At the time and even up till yesterday, I was at the most senior post of one of the largest political parties in the country,” he said. “So how can it be said that the person in the highest post of a political party is not involved in politics? Up till yesterday I was in politics. Today I am forced to create a new party because of the state of the nation and because it has become necessary to find another way for the country.”

As “a lot of citizens” had pleaded with him to form a new party, said Gayoom, he made the decision as “a national obligation.”

In his letter of resignation submitted yesterday, Gayoom said he was “forced” to leave the party he had formed on July 21, 2005 because the DRP had become “politically toothless” and DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali was “acting dictatorially” and violating the party’s charter and democratic principles.

“And you [Thasmeen] keep saying clearly in the media that you do not need my counsel,” reads the letter shared with local media. “The consequence of that was the loss of hope citizens had in this party. And DRP getting the bad name of the party that gives way to the government while remaining in name a responsible opposition party.”

DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali however dismissed the main points raised in Gayoom’s letter yesterday as “baseless claims” offered to defend his decision to resign.

The Zaeem-faction’s activities hampered DRP’s efforts to hold the government accountable, Thasmeen wrote in response, and would be “written in Maldivian political history as a shameful [episode].”

Thasmeen asserted that Gayoom decided to leave the party because he could not influence the party’s day-to-day management and functions in his ‘honorary’ role.

“Since the party’s charter does not give you that role, the fact that you tried to get your way together with a few people within the party regardless of what happened to the party is evident for all to see,” Thasmeen’s rebuttal reads.

The minority leader of parliament noted that three former DRP deputy leaders – former Attorney General Hassan Saeed, former Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim and current Independent MP Ahmed ‘Sun Travel’ Shiyam along with other cabinet ministers – left the party to form new parties and compete against Gayoom in the 2008 presidential election.

Gayoom meanwhile said today that he had not received the letter and could not comment on its contents: “There are no personal problems between me and Ahmed Thasmeen Ali,” he insisted.

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