Tag: supreme court

MDP will sign voter registry ahead of polling, rival parties undecided

Additional reporting by Zaheena Rasheed

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will accept the modified voter registry despite minor irregularities in order to ensure the re-run of the annulled 2013 presidential election goes ahead as scheduled on Saturday (October 19).

Following the Supreme Court’s annulment of the first round of the presidential election held September 7, the Elections Commission (EC) had been given less than 12 days to prepare for the repeat poll.

The Supreme Court ordered the EC to discard the commission’s voter registry and use the Department of National Registration’s (DNR) database to compile a new registry. In an additional midnight ruling on Thursday (October 11), the court ordered the EC to re-start the entire voter re-registration process.

Despite the expedited timeline, with a window of less than one day to re-register, more than 60,000 people submitted the new fingerprint forms to vote in the first round – just 5000 short of the 65,000 who re-registered ahead of the annulled September 7 poll.

The EC is still in the process of re-registering voters and has repeatedly extended the deadline for complaints with the newest deadline being 4:00 pm today.

The EC has said the final voter registry will be sent to political parties tonight and representatives will be given until sunrise on Friday to approve the registry.

The commission has said it normally requires 45-60 days of preparation to hold a presidential election in accordance with the Maldives’ constitution and general elections law.

In a statement released today, the MDP noted  a decrease of 395 names in the October 19 registry when compared to the September 7 list. The 7 September registry contained 239,593 names, while the October 19 registry contains 239,198 names.

The MDP highlighted 62 instances of repeated names and the addition of 789 new voters who had come of age. The party said the DNR had issued 2258 new identity cards, and when the new eligible voters are deducted from the number, there were 1469 people added to the voters list in “unclear circumstances.”

“Despite noting the aforementioned matters, since the margin of error (0.61%) is negligible and because the Constitution of the Maldives states that there must be an elected President on 11 November 2013, the MDP has decided to accept the list and go ahead with the Presidential Election scheduled to be held on 19 October 2013,” the statement read.

MDP candidate former President Mohamed Nasheed – the frontrunner of the now defunct poll held on September 7 – warned that a failure to hold on election on October 19 and to swear in a democratically elected head of state by November 11 would invalidate the constitution.

“We believe the voter registry is correct and we are ready to vote with that list,” he stated.

Rival candidates representing the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Jumhooree Party (JP) have meanwhile expressed concern about the accuracy of the new voter registry, despite accepting the need for an election to be held as soon as possible.

JP and PPM still concerned

The JP yesterday raised concerns about re-registration, with the party’s own representative on the EC Advisory Committee accusing the MDP of being able to access the commission’s servers and directly register its own candidates – compromising the system.

The party said it had filed a complaint with police over its allegations, demanding law enforcement officials address the concerns it had raised, according to local media.

Police have confirmed that an investigation was being conducted into allegations raised by the PPM and JP, though Police Spokesperson Chef Inspector Hassan Haneef was not responding to calls at time of press.

JP Deputy Leader Dr Ibrahim Didi and spokesperson Moosa Ramiz were not responding to requests for information on the allegations at time of press.

PPM MP Ahmed Nihan today said the party was committed to doing “everything possible” to ensure the re-run of the 2013 presidential election scheduled for Saturday (October 19) goes ahead.

He argued that the PPM nonetheless remained concerned over “lots of issues” that had arisen as a result of the short timeframe given to the EC to amend the eligible voter list.  He pointed to a system crash that occurred during registration on Sunday (October 13), said to have resulted from a large volume of data provided.

The technical issue, which had resulted in data having to be manually entered into the system for a two hour period, led to the EC accusing some supporters of the PPM and its coalition partners of obstructing its work during the day, with police criticised for failing to help remove protesters for at least five hours.

Nihan accused the EC of failing to correctly address issues of double voting and deceased and underage voters included in the registry ahead of the now defunct polls held September 7, but said that the EC had shown this week it did have the capacity to deal with alleged issues in the voter registry.

“If the election that is held next Saturday October 19 goes ahead, we believe the percentage of rigged votes would be far less,” he stressed.

However, Nihan said that with EC once again extending the deadline to receive complaints about the recomposed registry, a decision by the PPM on whether to proceed with Saturday’s polls would be held was expected in the next 24 hours.

Speaking at a PPM press conference yesterday (September 16), Mohamed Tholal, a party member on the EC’s advisory board questioned the capability of commission to address issues raised with re-registration this week leading to a number of deadline extensions.

“If the forms were not processed because of the seven hour delay, then they should be done by now” he said.

The PPM also accused the EC of rejecting some forms it had submitted without providing an opportunity to address issues.

Both the PPM and coalition party the Maldivan Development Alliance (MDA) meanwhile on Tuesday (September 15) questioned whether an election could go ahead as scheduled on Saturday due to a lack of time to finalise the list.

“I believe the security forces have to take action. If they do not abide by the Supreme Court [verdict’s] spirit to allow every citizen the right to vote, this issue must be looked into,” the MDA’s Ahmed Amir was quoted as saying in local media at the time.

Ali Ahmed Manik of the EC meanwhile said he hoped that the three candidates representing the MDP, PPM and JP in Saturday’s election would agree to sign the registry for polling to commence on schedule.

“We have already sent a list to all the candidates,” Manik was quoted as saying in local newspaper Haveeru. “Re-registration will be added to that. So they can check our list even now. We will be able to submit a final list when [re-registration] is completed. I think the presidential candidates will do this for us.”

Despite the allegations, Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek has expressed confidence polling would go ahead as scheduled on Saturday, despite not everything being within the commission’s control.

“We are giving our maximum effort to reach the deadline. No rest, no sleep, two hours [maximum]. We were working 24 hours straight, then 36, now 48. Our officials are doing everything humanly possible. International observers are even surprised [at the intensive effort put forth],” said Thowfeek.

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Deceased people in voter database result of difficulties obtaining information: Department of National Registration

The Maldives’ Department of National Registration (DNR) has said there is a possibility names of deceased people could be included in the electoral register as it “faces difficulties in obtaining information” to maintain a more current database.

Following the Supreme Court’s annulment of the first round of presidential elections, the EC had been given less than 12 days to prepare for the repeat poll – scheduled to take place this Saturday (October 19).

The commission has said it normally requires 45-60 days of preparation to hold a presidential election in accordance with the Maldives’ constitution and general elections law.

The Supreme Court’s verdict delineated 16 guidelines the EC must follow in holding a new round of polling before October 20, including using the DNR’s database as the “main source to determine eligible voters”.

Today the DNR admitted it had “faced difficulties in obtaining information on people who have passed away abroad”.

“We have removed the names of deceased people from our database whose information hasbeen shared. But we cannot remove a person from the database if we can’t officially confirm their deaths,” DNR Director Fareeda Yoosuf told Haveeru.

For the annulled first round as well as past elections, the EC compiled its voter registry by collecting current data from island council and city council offices, which was cross checked with the DNR database, and then updated after the commission publicly published the list and provided voters with an opportunity to amend any incorrect information.

“It has been very hard work over the last five years to come up with a voter registry of this standard,” Elections Commission Chairperson Fuwad Thowfeek explained to Minivan News in a previous interview.

Meanwhile, the EC emphasised today that it has not made any changes to the information obtained from the DNR database when compiling the voter register for the presidential election scheduled for Saturday, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order.

The commission will forward all complaints regarding the voter registry to the DNR, local media reported.

Complaints submitted thus far have primarily focused on the delayed re-registration process, according to local media. Other recurring issues are due to individuals being registered to vote under incorrect addresses or in the wrong location altogether.

The commission accepted complaints submissions until 6pm today. Additionally, as of this afternoon, the EC had processed over 52,000 – of the estimated 65,000 – re-registration forms for individuals voting outside of their permanent residences.

The entire re-registration process, including the complaints procedure, was delayed after supporters of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Maldivian Development Alliance (MDA) “threatened officials, incited discord, and obstructed EC officials’ ability to work” at the voter registration department.

The commission notified the government that the Maldives Police Service (MPS) failed to remove the protesters from the registration section’s premises for five hours “despite repeated efforts and requests for police assistance”.

A midnight ruling from the Supreme Court on October 10 ordered the commission to disregard re-registration efforts for the annulled presidential elections, and restart the entire process with fingerprinted forms for all voters who wish to vote in a location other than their permanent address.

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Elections Commission slams PPM, MDA protesters and police for obstructing election re-registration

The Elections Commission (EC) has “strongly condemned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Maldivian Development Alliance (MDA) supporters for threatening officials, inciting discord, and obstructing EC officials’ ability to work”, and has notified the government that the Maldives Police Service (MPS) failed to remove the protesters from the registration section’s premises for five hours “despite repeated efforts and requests for police assistance”.

A midnight ruling from the Supreme Court on October 10 ordered the commission to disregard re-registration efforts for the annulled presidential elections, and restart the entire process with fingerprinted forms for all voters who wish to vote in a location other than their permanent address.

The 65,000 people previously registered to vote in locations other than their permanent addresses have to re-register because there was no thumb print on their registration forms, EC Chairperson Fuad Thowfeek explained to Minivan News earlier this week.

Speaking to the press tonight, Thowfeek said the PPM and MDA ruckus had caused a six hour delay in reregistration. The EC has accepted all reregistration forms, and will finish processing all forms by 8:00 am tomorrow (October 15). The EC has urged all eligible voters to check their reregistration status and submit complaints by 6:00 pm tomorrow.

A system crash around 2:30pm Sunday afternoon due to the large volume of data saw the EC begin manually entering data to continue processing while the system was restarted. An official told Minivan News yesterday the problem was fixed two hours later at 4:30pm, however some people reportedly became upset as the manual process meant they were unable to be immediately issued with a confirmation slip. 2500 tickets remained at the time of the crash, the official noted.

Boisterous PPM and its allied MDA supporters in the queue quickly accused the EC of attempting to rig the election.

After the EC began to manually process the registration forms “a group of people representing the MDA and PPM protested against the move, threatened the officials at the premises, incited discord in the premises and obstructed the work of the Elections Commission officials in an uncivilised manner,” the Elections Commission stated in a press release issued last night (October 13).

“Despite repeated efforts and requests for police assistance the EC had to suspend its work of processing the re-registration forms due to the PPM/MDA led actions, which made it extremely difficult for the EC to provide its services to the public and caused a lot of people to endure great difficulties,” said the EC.

“An environment that allowed the Elections Officials to work without fear and threats was only created five hours later, after police removed supporters and activists of both the MDA and the PPM from the Elections Commission’s registration department,” the EC continued.

“In this regard, the incident was brought to the attention of President’s Office, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defense and National Security, the Chief Justice, Speaker of the Parliament and the Parliament’s Independent Institutions Oversight Committee,” the EC said.

“We disappointingly note that the events that took place [on October 13] caused huge derailment of the efforts being made by the Elections Commission to hold the presidential election as per the deadline given by the Supreme Court, and we strongly condemn these actions,” the EC added.

“We also call upon the political parties and political parties to not cause such hindrances to the commission in the future, and act in a responsible manner.”

Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek told Minivan News on Friday evening that the EC had received threats that the voter registration section would be attacked, and that “people would throw stones at the windows and burn things there.”

“When we received that information we wrote to the police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) requesting protection of our office. It’s very sad. There are a group of people who want to block this [vote], those who know they may not do well, so they are trying to buy time and make the election difficult. But I hope these things can be handled by the police and MNDF. The whole world is watching and wants this election,” he told Minivan News.

Re-registration process

“The Elections Commission is tirelessly working to ensure that the Presidential Election is to be held before the deadline of October 20, given by the Supreme Court in its judgement (No. 2013/SC-C/42), amidst getting just 10 days to facilitate all the necessary arrangements,” stated the commission. “With regard to this, the opportunity to apply for voter re-registration was opened until 4:30pm October 12.”

Over 12,000 individuals were issued token numbers to submit their voter re-registration forms and as of 9:00am today the last person was served, EC Secretary General Sattar told local media today. As of midnight 23,000 forms had been processed and the EC is “continuously working” to process the remainder.

The EC will be able to present the final voters list to presidential candidates on Wednesday or Thursday this week, Sattar added.

The commission estimates that 65,000 individuals will re-register to vote outside of their home island, the same the number of people who re-registered on the ‘dhaftharu’ for the now annulled first round of the presidential election.

Prior to PPM and MDA supporters disrupting re-registration yesterday, the EC was accepting re-registration forms based on tokens issued until 4:30pm on October 12.

“Re-registration forms submitted by political parties were accepted in bundles, with each set containing 100 forms. In that regard, the Election Commission collected all re-registration forms submitted by political parties by 7:00am on October 13,” stated the EC.

“Individuals who personally wanted to re-register themselves at the commission were issued two different types of token numbers. A different range of token numbers were issued for individuals submitting less than five forms and individuals submitting more than five forms, but less than ten forms,” the commission continued.

“The secretariat of the Elections Commission had continuously given the service of accepting the forms to these token numbers without any interruptions… [until] approximately around midday, when the officials at the service counters of the Elections Commission secretariat had to process the forms manually [due to failure of its network],” the commission noted.

Disruptive protests by PPM and MDA supporters began shortly thereafter.

Fingerprint verification

The Supreme Court issued another midnight ruling October 14 that ordered the Elections Commission (EC) to address the complaints of any individual who has the right to stand for election, “including the verification of fingerprints on re-registration forms through the Department of National Registration.”

PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen recently told local newspaper Haveeru that it “would be hard” for him to approve the voter registry – another recent requirement from the Supreme Court – should the EC not verify fingerprints.

However, the Elections Commission has not received any official complaints regarding the re-registration process and any questions regarding the validity of voter registration forms will be addressed in conjunction with the Department of National Registration (DNR), as ordered by the Supreme Court, EC Secretary General Asim Abdul Sattar told local media.

Complaints about the voter registry should be issued “sensibly before the election” scheduled to take place October 19, Sattar told Minivan News today.

Based on the Supreme Court order, “any form” could be subject to verification, including the entire voter registry, Sattar explained.

While the Department of National Registration (DNR) and Maldives Police Service (MPS) both have the capability to verify fingerprints on voter registration forms, neither institution can verify all the data, he added.

Despite the Supreme Court order requiring fingerprinted voter registration forms, the Elections Commission has said it does not have the technical capacity to verify if the forms have the correct fingerprints.

“There is no way for the EC to verify the authenticity of their thumbprints,” EC Chairperson Fuwad Thowfeek told Minivan News earlier this week.

“The Supreme Court verdict does not say we have to verify [fingerprints]. We don’t have the capacity to do that. No institution does. But if we notice a problem, we can take those particular forms to the police for investigation,” Elections Commission member Ali Mohamed Manik previously noted.

Meanwhile, police would require approximately five minutes per form to cross-check information on the voter registration form with the DNR database and then verify the validity of fingerprints. With over 60,000 re-registration forms to process, it would take a minimum of six months to complete, the MPS told local media today.

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PPM accuses JP of backing MDP, claims any vote for Gasim “a waste”

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has suggested that Jumhooree Party (JP) presidential candidate Gasim Ibrahim is “stuck” under the influence of advisers sympathetic to his political rivals.

Speaking to local media yesterday, PPM candidate Abdulla Yameen’s election agent suggested that former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members within the JP were working to bring former President Mohamed Nasheed back to power.

“Lately we haven’t seen any campaigning from Gasim. Or Gasim pitching his policies or manifesto. All we’re seeing him do is complain and launch attacks against rival candidates,” Abdulla Ameen told local media.

After both the PPM and the JP had mooted the idea of backing a single anti-Nasheed candidate in the upcoming vote, it was revealed by local media yesterday that the parties could not agree on a candidate.

Whilst the JP were said to have favoured incumbent President Dr Mohamed Waheed as the sole candidate, Yameen was reported to have rejected the proposal.

Campaigning for the presidential elections resumed in earnest last week after the Supreme Court scheduled a new date for the first round, annulling the previous poll held on September 7.

The court’s investigation of potentially fraudulent voting was initiated by Gasim’s JP after it finished in third place, just 2,677 votes behind the PPM.

Ameen yesterday predicted that Gasim would again fail to reach the run-off in Saturday’s re-scheduled election, branding any vote cast for the JP candidate “a waste”.

Current JP President Ibrahim Didi – formerly president of the MDP – has dismissed the PPM’s claims.

“It’s not true,” he explained, “But the reality is that the majority of members of JP don’t support PPM leadership in their policies.”

Didi left the MDP in acrimonious circumstances shortly after Nasheed’s controversial resignation in February 2012.

MP Alhan Fahmy left the MDP at the same time after both he and Didi were accused of making statements contrary to the MDP’s official position that the February transfer of power had amounted to a coup.

Fahmy has since returned to the MDP, as has former JP member Abdulla Jabir – both of whom have a history of party switching.

Gasim and Nasheed met last month to discuss matters of national interest and the maintenance of stability and public order.

Speculation regarding potential coalitions would prove premature following the court’s recent verdict, though when asked following the pair’s meeting Gasim stated that he bore no personal animosity towards any other candidates.

Nasheed meanwhile said that Gasim was “a family friend since childhood” who has offered good advice and counsel throughout the years.

The JP were initially aligned with the MDP following Nasheed’s victory over 30-year autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the 2008 presidential election.

The coalition lasted just a few months, with the JP later going on to form part of the ‘December 23’ coalition which led months of protest calling for the protection of Islam against the so-called irreligious policies of Nasheed’s government.

After subsequent unrest preceded a police mutiny and Nasheed’s resignation, the JP went on to form part of Dr Mohamed Waheed’s national unity government.

Waheed last week opted to withdraw from the re-scheduled election after receiving just five percent of the popular vote in the initial poll last month.

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Adhaalath Party MP calls on Supreme Court to “temporarily ban” MDP

The religious conservative Adhaalath Party MP Ibrahim Muthalib has called on the Supreme Court protect itself from derogatory remarks by temporarily banning the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

While briefing the press yesterday (October 13), Muthalib stated that the MDP was a militant organisation working to destroy the nation and its religion.

He stressed that it was imperative and necessary for Supreme Court to take action in defending the nation and Islam.

“Supreme Court needs to self-initiate a ruling to ban the MDP for a couple of days. All these things will be sorted out if [the Supreme Court] bans the MDP. If the court does not resort to such measures, these problems [of defaming the Supreme Court] will continue,” Muthalib suggested.

“Firstly, they survived in Maldivian politics by speaking of the thirty-year autocratic rule [of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] for four years. From 2004 to 2008, the only thing that these people spoke of was about those thirty years.” explained Muthalib.

“Now, it is the Supreme Court [which MDP has targeted].”

The remarks came shortly after Adhaalath had publicly announced its support for the Supreme Court case to bar MDP presidential candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed from competing in the presidential elections scheduled for Saturday (October 19).

The case, filed by the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Council Member Ibrahim ‘Wadde’ Waheed and President of the ‘Madhanee Iththihaadh’ (Civil Alliance) Sheikh Mohamed Didi, was quickly condemned by incumbent President Dr Mohamed Waheed.

The PPM leadership also announced it was in negotiation with its own council member to withdraw the case.

Nasheed himself has repeatedly maintained that such attempts would not succeed and that such efforts were “not even newsworthy”. His MDP has meanwhile described Muthalib’s remarks as being against against all democratic norms.

Chief Justice overpowered by the MDP, Nasheed a criminal

Muthalib also went onto criticise Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain – one of the three judges to have opposed the decision to annul the first round of the presidential election – claiming that he had been “overpowered” by the MDP.

He reminded Faiz that he was not appointed to the Supreme Court by Nasheed, but rather it was “Allah who had given him that post through his will”.

The Adhaalath MP urged the Chief Justice to work independently and without bias. He did, however, point out that his remarks did not represent the official view of the Adhaalath Party.

When asked about the remarks made by Muthalib during the press conference, the Vice President of Adhaalath Party, Dr Mauroof Hussain said that it was up to the Elections Commission to take action against the MDP, though he did condemn the party’s criticism of the court.

“Where else in the world [does] a political party do such things? A political party has called to disregard a ruling issued by the highest court of law in the country. If such a thing is carried out in any other democratic party, be it a political party or a state institution, they would face immediate dissolution,” Mauroof told the press.

MP Muthalib himself has been linked to several controversies, both for his frequent party switching and his remarks in parliament.

He was originally elected to parliament as an independent candidate – despite being a member of Adhaalath – before joining the Jumhooree Party (JP) in 2011.

Just months later, however, he resigned from the party, rejoining the Adhaalath Party.

Last November 2012, Muthalib made a call in parliament for former President Nasheed’s Special Envoy Ibrahim Hussain Zaki to be “hanged to death” as a “traitor to the Maldives”.

He is also a sponsor of the bill seeking amendment to the Clemency Act that if passed would would require any death sentence then upheld by the Supreme Court to be carried out. The bill is still pending in parliament.

Responding to the remarks, MDP Spokesperson Imthiyaz Fahmy told Minivan News today (October 14) that the Adhaalath Party was working not only against the progress of the country, but also against human nature.

“These people do not comprehend the fact that we are now living in the 21st century. This country has fully adopted and accepted the multiparty political system… Their backward thinking will lead them to their fateful end as people are not ready to accept such remarks,” Fahmy told Minivan News.

Fahmy also pointed out that the people were not willing to support political parties that are attempting to drag the country back to the dictatorship of former President Gayoom.

“These kind of remarks made by such immature political parties is one reason behind the immense support gained by the MDP. The people know that it was the MDP and its supporters who paid the price to bring in democratic reforms in the country that allowed the people to freely voice their political opinion. Calling to ban the MDP is an attempt to destroy the democracy in the Maldives,” He added.

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Elections Commission processes 20,000 forms, as thousands queue to re-register

The Elections Commission (EC) has processed 20,000 voter re-registration forms, and is still serving a queue of thousands of tickets taken before yesterday’s 4:30pm deadline.

65,000 people re-registered to vote ahead of the September 7 election, which was annulled last week by the Supreme Court. With little over a week remaining before the rescheduled October 19 vote, the court at midnight on October 10 ordered the EC to collect voter fingerprints and restart the entire re-registration process from scratch.

The announcement of a 24 hour deadline for registration saw hundreds of volunteers in political party outposts working right through the night of October 11 in an effort to re-register thousands of voters. The largest party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which obtained 45.45 percent of the popular vote in the annulled first round, said it had re-registered more than 33,000 people.

A system crash around 2:30pm Sunday afternoon due to the large volume of data saw the EC begin manually entering data to continue processing while the system was restarted. An official told Minivan News the problem was fixed two hours later at 4:30pm, however some people reportedly became upset as the manual process meant they were unable to be immediately issued with a confirmation slip. 2500 tickets remained at the time of the crash, the official noted.

Boisterous Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and its allied Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) supporters in the queue quickly accused the EC of attempting to rig the election, while soon after 7:00pm police had arrived at the EC’s registration building and begun removing people from the waiting area.

By 9:00pm police had deployed barricades outside separating the MDP and PPM supporters, while the Elections Commission had begun calling numbers again and was stamping temporary receipts, with official receipts to be provided on Tuesday.

Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek told Minivan News on Friday evening that the EC had received threats that the voter registration section would be attacked, and that “people would throw stones at the windows and burn things there.”

“When we received that information we wrote to the police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) requesting protection of our office. It’s very sad. There are a group of people who want to block this [vote], those who know they may not do well, so they are trying to buy time and make the election difficult. But I hope these things can be handled by the police and MNDF. The whole world is watching and wants this election,” he told Minivan News.

PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen has meanwhile reportedly called on the EC to verify the fingerprints on all registration forms submitted, despite no organisation in the Maldives having the capacity to do this.

Foreign reporters to require business visas

The Immigration Department, which operates under the Ministry of Defence, has meanwhile declared that foreign reporters and camera crew must now apply for business visas and be vetted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Visiting journalists have previously entered the country on tourist visas, as business visas (costing MVR750/US$50 for three months) have required the sponsorship and collection of the visiting person from the airport by a local company or organisation.

“Up until now, we issue visas based on a list provided by the Elections (Commission). We cannot allow them to enter on a tourist visa and cover the election. We have communicated this to the relevant authorities,” Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali told local media.

The procedure under which foreign media would be approved and sponsored was unclear, although Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mohamed Najeel suggested that this would be processed through the ministry.

‘Death threat’ phone lines suspended

The Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) has informed local media that it has suspended 15 phone numbers accused of issuing death threats against Elections Commission officials.

The death threats received by the EC’s permanent staff and polling station officials prompted the commission to file a report with police following the Supreme Court’s controversial suspension of the second round of polling, and subsequent annulment of the first round.

CAM CEO Ilyas Ahmed told local media that police had also filed cases regarding several numbers.

“We only take action if there’s a serious problem with a number, and after filing the case to the police. This is a criminal offence and there is a judicial procedure to be completed, so we’re filing them to the police,” he told Sun Online.

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Q&A: “There are people who want to block this vote” – Elections Commission Chairperson Fuwad Thowfeek

The Maldives’ Supreme Court issued an injunction on September 23 to indefinitely delay the presidential election’s second round until a verdict was reached in the Jumhooree Party (JP)’s case against the Elections Commission (EC).

Ultimately the Supreme Court ruled to annul the first round of the 2013 presidential elections, held September 7, citing a secret police report on alleged electoral irregularities, despite unanimous positive assessment of the polling by more than a thousand local and international election observers. The apex court’s verdict issued around midnight on October 8 included 16 point guidelines the EC was to follow to hold new presidential elections before October 20.

Giving it just 11 days to prepare for the next round of the presidential election, the Supreme Court has also issued subsequent rulings dictating managerial and administrative tasks the EC must undertake while preparing for the repeat first round.

With the October 19 repeat first round less than a week away, Minivan News discusses some of the challenges faced by the commission with Fuwad Thowfeek, Chairperson of the country’s first independent Elections Commission (EC).

Leah R Malone: In a previous interview you noted that the EC would normally require 45-60 days of preparation to hold a presidential election in accordance with the Maldives’ constitution, presidential and general elections law. Will the Elections Commission be able to hold the presidential election’s repeat first round on October 19, given the limited preparation time available? Are you satisfied with how preparations are proceeding?

Fuwad Thowfeek: The Maldivian people have so much trust and faith in the Elections Commission. Our future, our democratic country, depends on how we act and react at this time.

240,000 voters believe in our work, and for the sake of the people coming to keep up the democratic process and rule of law we are sacrificing ourselves to get these things done in the short time given.

People everywhere I go tell me “Thank you for your work, don’t quit, don’t do anything to take us back [to dictatorship], don’t step down, don’t resign”. So many people are so worried [the election will not take place]. They have so much faith [in us], we should not and cannot let the Maldivian people down. We are not going to accept defeat. The election will be conducted, the votes counted, and the results released.

The EC’s staff are ready go ahead [with the election], they will give their maximum 100 percent support. This is the time we all have to sacrifice our holidays and our pleasure for the people of the country. Rarely will a person get a chance to do that for their nation.

We have been working very hard day and night with no break, there are three staff shift rotations [so the commission is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week]. We also have to work through the Eid holidays.

We are making it possible for people of the country [to exercise their right to vote]. If this was only for our personal benefit we would not be [sacrificing so much].

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s Vice Chair Abdul Raheem Abdulla said he thinks it is impossible to hold the election October 19, so we will make the impossible possible.

(Recent videos on social media show PPM MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla using obscene language against Speaker Abdulla Shahid and insulting his mother during disorderly protests in Parliament by MPs of the government-aligned PPM and Jumhooree Party (JP).)

Death threats continuing

LRM: Has any progress been made regarding the investigation into the death threats received by Elections Commission officials? Or identifying who set fire to the lot next to your home?

FT: There has been no progress in identifying the individuals sending death threats to EC officials or determining who set fire to the lot next to my home.

LRM: Are Elections Commission officials still receiving death threats?

FT: I have not received any additional threats about being stabbed, but general threats against the Elections Commission are continuing. This evening (October 11) we received a threat that the voter registration section would be attacked, people would throw stones at the windows and burn things there.

When we received that information we wrote the police and Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) requesting protection of our office.

It’s very sad. There are a group of people who want to block this [vote], those who know they may not do well, so they are trying to buy time and make the election difficult.

But I hope these things can be handled by the police and MNDF. The whole world is watching and wants this election.

Police elections role

LRM: Supreme Court’s verdict in the Jumhooree Party’s case against the Elections Commission mandates that the police should play a substantive role in handling the logistics and security of the election and ballot papers. However, after receiving the EC’s complaint that the security forces had ‘hijacked’ the EC the evening before the presidential elections scheduled second round, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated it will take any necessary action to ensure the constitution is upheld.

In this context, can police play an impartial role while adhering to the Supreme Court’s verdict, or does their involvement compromise the electoral process?

FT: We were told there should be more of a police presence from printing [ballot papers] until voting takes place. This time a police officer will accompany Elections Commission officials for every movement [of the ballot boxes].

Police officers still must adhere to 100 foot rule during polling and counting. Police should not be present [within a 100 foot radius of the ballot boxes] during counting. [After counting] once the boxes are in a certain place, police will then guard them.

The way the police reacted on the 27th [of September] was quite unfriendly… but we are trying to cooperate and I hope they will also give cooperation because this Supreme Court case has ordered the EC and all government institutions to follow the verdict.

(The EC was forced to postpone the presidential election’s second round, scheduled to take place September 28, due to a lack of state cooperation that prevented the commission from holding a “free and fair vote without intimidation, aggression, undue influence or corruption”. The announcement was made September 27, shortly before the EC secretariat was surrounded by Special Operations police with orders from Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz to take over the building and ballot papers should it proceed with election preparations.)

LRM: Was the EC ever provided the details of the police intelligence report that the Supreme Court’s verdict to annul the presidential election’s first round was primarily based on?

FT: The EC had not received the police intelligence prior to the Supreme Court verdict, but two days after the verdict was issued we were sent some documents and files. The document the EC received was “another analytical report based on the lists [in the police intelligence report] sent to the Supreme Court”.

We have still not been given the original police report based on their intelligence findings and observations. That report was passed between the Maldives Police Service, the Attorney General and President Waheed before being given to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court based their verdict on these claims, not the EC’s records.

We are going to review the Department of National Registration (DNR) data ourselves and will verify if the data [in the police report] is true or false and differentiate between whether it is five percent or 100 percent accurate. We will analyse it as soon as there is time, but right now there is no time to verify and cross check.

(The police intelligence report has not been made public and was not shown to the Election Commission’s defence lawyers).

Supreme Court guidelines

LRM: How have the Supreme Court guidelines impacted the EC’s preparations for the presidential election’s repeat first round?

FT: I have been speaking with the Supreme Court Chief Justice to get clarifications regarding the verdict’s guidelines for the EC.

A difficulty is our ballot box officials will not be able to keep their cell phones, so one polling station official will have to remain 100 feet away with their cell phone. If any incident occurs a ballot box official will then have to walk over to the polling station official so they can call for assistance.

Another difficulty is that there are nine days of public holidays for Eid [and government institutions will be closed during that period].

Registration

LRM: How has the Supreme Court ruling issued October 11 that ordered the commission to restart the entire elections re-registration process impacted preparations?

FT: We understand from the Supreme Court that [in their order] they were referring to old forms without fingerprints [being invalid].

65,000 people previously registered on the ‘dhaftharu’ [the special registry for Male’ residents who are from other islands]. They have to re-register because there was no thumb print on their registration forms. They need to fill the registration form in the presence of two witnesses and all three must thumbprint the form. Although there is no way for the EC to verify the authenticity of their thumbprints.

I believe by cancelling over 65,000 [people’s voter registration] we will not be able to provide the opportunity to register many of them within the limited time. So many people will not be able re-register within the one-and-a-half days and although they will have the option to travel [back to their home islands to vote] it will be a burden for them: time and money.

For overseas voters, the one way to email their registration is after they fill the form, with two witnesses, and the necessary thumbprints they can then send it via email to someone who will then need to physically bring it to a Maldives Embassy. For example, if a Maldivian voter lives in Scotland, after filling the voter registration form, he or she can email it to a friend in London, who will then need to take it to the [Maldives] Embassy in London.

(The Elections Commission opened a 24-hour re-registration window – that ended at 4:30pm October 12 – for all eligible voters, after the Supreme Court ordered the EC to disregard re-registration efforts for the annulled presidential elections, and restart the entire process with fingerprinted forms for all voters who wish to vote in a location other than their permanent address.)

LRM: With the High Court ruling that it no longer has jurisdiction to hear election related cases, due to the Supreme Court’s verdict, how can individuals seek redress?

FT: I’m sure there will be so many complaints because ID cards [names and addresses] will have slight variations compared to the DNR’s voters list.

Now if an individual wants to seek redress regarding their complaints, they must file the case with the Criminal Court. Because of the Supreme Court verdict, the special consideration for the High Court to see to all election related matters is no longer valid.

Government Institutions

LRM: The Election’s Commission previously cited lack of state cooperation as one of the reasons it was prevented from holding a “free and fair [second round] vote without intimidation, aggression, undue influence or corruption” on September 28 as constitutionally-mandated. Are government institutions currently cooperating to re-hold the presidential election’s first round on October 19?

FT: The Elections Commission has been promised all government institutions will provide whatever they can [for the election to take place].

We have also been in contact with the acting Finance Minister and acting Home Minister to get input as well as the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Maldives Police Service (MPS), the Department of National Registration (DNR), the National Center for Information Technology (NCIT), the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Maldives National University (MNU) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO).

MNU staff from the Faculty of Education and different sections because we need more people to do the work in they very limited time [before October 19], so we are asking them to come here [to the EC]. Some work has been delegated, for example the DNR is assisting with photo formatting.

LRM: The Supreme Court guidelines also require government institutions to enhance the commission’s database security, so how is the EC protecting its data from external influences?

FT: The EC’s data is still secured. We are using the NCIT’s expertise in areas where risk to data security is not involved. For example, the format of voters’ photos and attachments are different at the DNR and EC, so NCIT is converting the photo formatting and providing support in different technical areas.

Commission member resignation

LRM: With commission member Ibrahim ‘Ogaru’ Waheed resigning last week due to health reasons, when will the EC seek a replacement?

FT: We will seek a replacement after the presidential election, because the process takes time. The president has to call for applications, then send nominees to the ‘Majlis’ [‘Parliament’], and in many cases the names submitted will not be accepted.

To establish the current commission, and select the five members, the whole process took four to five months. It would probably take at least two months to find a replacement for Waheed.

International observers returning

LRM: What international election observers will be returning for polling on October 19?

FT: I’ve had friendly conversations with the German, American, and UK Ambassadors by phone to provide them updates. Right now the German Ambassador is here and we recently met in Male’ and the US Ambassador will be arriving from Colombo.

One of my colleagues in Brussels called to ask about EU observer teams coming and I said they are most welcome to come observe the election. The Indian High Commission has said a team of Indian observers are coming and the Commonwealth is also coming with a team.

We are very delighted to have them here and have sent written invitations to all the countries and organisations that came to observe polling on September 7, which included Japan, Thailand, India, Pakistan, the UK, US, Commonwealth, and EU.

Hopefully everyone will return to observe the election.

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JP, PPM fail to agree on contesting election with single candidate

Jumhoree Party (JP) presidential candidate MP Gasim Ibrahim will individually contest the election rerun scheduled for Saturday (October 19), after failing to agree terms with his rivals on uniting behind a single candidate against the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

JP Policy Secretary Mohamed Ajmal confirmed that talks between Gasim and fellow candidates President Dr Mohamed Waheed and MP Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) had failed to result in an agreement to form an election coalition.

President Waheed announced Friday (October 11) that he would be withdrawing from the election rerun set for October 19, after polls held last month were annulled by the Supreme Court.

Waheed, who came in last place during the now defunct first round of polling on September 7 with 5.13 percent of the popular vote, said he had taken his decision in the “greater interest”of the Maldives, citing concerns about the integrity of the independent Elections Commission (EC).

The election, which saw an 88 percent voter turnout, was unanimously considered credible and democratic by more than 1000 local and international election observers.

Local media has meanwhile quoted the president as saying he would not back back any particular candidate ahead of the vote, despite previously pledging support to the PPM ahead of the cancelled run-off vote that was to be held on September 28.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad said he could not officially confirm the president’s stance on not backing a candidate at time of press.

The decision means that just three candidates will contest Saturday’s poll; MDP candidate former President Mohamed Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen of the PPM and Gasim Ibrahim of the JP.

Ajmal said that with Dr Waheed, Yameen and Gasim failing to agree on terms for fielding a single candidate to stand against Nasheed, the JP’s candidate would contest the polls individually along with his running mate Dr Hassan Saeed, as he had during the vote on September 7.

Speaking during a press conference yesterday (September 12), Gasim accused the PPM of being the main obstacle in agreeing to back President Waheed as a single candidate against Nasheed.

“I said the others must choose that path as well. Then it will be President Waheed who will contest elections. [I asked for that] because that is the path for success. However that did not happen. I myself told PPM’s President, [former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] that I was ready to do that,” he told local media during the press conference.

“When I had proposed this, PPM cannot lie and say [we] did not agree to a single candidate. Politics is dirty, but it shouldn’t be this dirty.”

PPM presidential candidate Yameen has meanwhile told newspaper Haveeru he did not believe the party would receive a sufficient number of votes by uniting behind Waheed. He raised an additional concern, that the incumbent’s running mate during the September 7 vote was Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, adding that it was against the law to change a choice of running mate.

Thasmeen and his party have since pledged support for the MDP during the election.

“We cannot see a way to lawfully change the running mate. There is no way to change Thasmeen as Waheed’s running mate. So even in this sense, from a legal point of view, President Waheed is not a choice,” Yameen was quoted as saying.

The PPM presidential candidate was not responding to calls at time of press.

Cancelled vote

Gasim narrowly finished in third place during last month’s cancelled vote, taking 24.07 percent of ballots cast, with Yameen receiving 25.35 percent of the votes cast.

MDP candidate former President Mohamed Nasheed finished as front runner in the poll, securing 45.45 percent of the popular vote.  However, he fell short of the 50 percent ‘plus one vote’ needed to secure the presidency during the first round.

Despite both local and international observers praising the September 7 poll and the conduct of the Maldives’ EC, the Supreme Court ultimately backed concerns raised by the JP over alleged voter irregularities and ordered a rerun of last month’s poll in its entirety.

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India calls for free, fair, inclusive and credible election, and a smooth transition of power

The government of India in a statement released on Thursday called on all Maldivian stakeholders to work towards holding a “free, fair, inclusive and credible election in a peaceful environment followed by a smooth transition on November 11”.

“As a close friend and neighbour, India has consistently supported the strengthening of democratic processes and institutions in Maldives. We believe that it is important that the stalled electoral process is put back on track,” the statement read.

“India strongly urges that the fresh elections dates stipulated in the verdict are adhered to so that a new President is elected in accordance with the wishes and democratic aspirations of the people of Maldives,” the statement added.

The statement comes at a time when the Elections Commission (EC) is preparing to hold the presidential election on October 19, after the previous election held on September 7 was annulled by the Supreme Court citing discrepancies in the poll.

Supreme Court judgement and its complications

The Supreme Court in its controversial judgement issued last week based its findings on a secret police report compiled by the court itself, with the assistance of police from the Forensic Directorate Department.

The court ruled the election had lacked legitimacy, as there were 5,623 irregularities in the voter registry. The secret report was not shown to the Elections Commission’s legal team.

The judgement also laid down a “guideline” consisting of 16 points which the court claimed were necessary to be followed by the Elections Commission to ensure a free and fair, credible elections. These included a provision stating that re-registration form should only be accepted if it had the name, address, identity card number and fingerprint of the person requesting re-registration, the person submitting the form as well as [the same information of] two witnesses.

However, in a later order by the Supreme Court last Friday, the Elections Commission was ordered to restart the process of compiling the voter registry for those individuals who wished to vote in a location other than their place of domicile, disregarding previous re-registration.

This led the Elections Commission and political parties to begin a last minute re-registration drive to ensure all voters who wished to vote in a different island than their island of permanent residence were able to do so. Unless re-registered, these voters will now not get the opportunity to cast their ballot.

The Elections Commission has meanwhile said that it expects at least a minimum 60,000 people to have registered within the short time period. The commission has also said that it has been working round the clock to ensure the elections happen as according to the schedule given by the Supreme Court.

The ruling to annul the first round also contradicted the positive assessments of more than a thousand local and international election observers.

No legal void even if no presidential elect is determined by November 11: Supreme Court

Meanwhile India’s latest statement notes that it is important to follow the deadlines set forth in the constitution and the law.

“We deplore the recent incidents of political violence and appeal to all sides to maintain peace and calm and to refrain from extra-constitutional measures,” read the statement.

“We encourage all concerned in Maldives to work for free, fair, inclusive and credible elections in a peaceful environment followed by a smooth transition on 11 November 2013, as stipulated by the Constitution of Maldives.

In this regard, we welcome the statement issued by the Maldives’ President condemning efforts to stop former President Mohamed Nasheed from running for office of President of Maldives,” the statement added.

However, the Supreme Court’s judgement now means that even if a new president was unable to be sworn in on conclusion of the presidential term on November 11, the “principle of continuity of legitimate government would override any repercussions faced by failure to adhere to constitutional deadlines.”

India in its statement also assured that its commitment to work with the Government of Maldives and its state institutions for success of elections.

The Indian statement also coincided with a similar statement by the United Kingdom.

The UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague stated that “It is imperative that there are no further delays and the elections are free, fair and inclusive, and that international observers are invited.”

“It is important now that the democratic process proceeds in accordance with the Constitution,” Hague stated, calling on presidential candidates to respect the democratic process “and create conditions for free, fair elections.”

Meanwhile an early day motion was tabled in the UK Parliament calling upon the House of Commons to support the UN secretary general’s call for a “credible and peaceful second round of voting” in the Maldives.

The motion, sponsored by MP Grahame Morris, also called upon members of the House of Commons to declare that it “condemns those who are seeking to prevent President Mohamed Nasheed from participating in any future elections in the Maldives; further condemns the perpetrators of the arson attack that destroyed the opposition-supporting Raaje TV station in Male’; and demands that the authorities take all necessary steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

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