Maldives President wins two thirds majority in parliament polls
Monday, 24 March 2014 01:27
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By Uditha Jayasinghe in Male
The Maldives ruling coalition won the battle for the parliament in an unexpectedly smooth election that was caught in controversy when the Elections Chief was removed and handed a prison sentence earlier this month.
The Maldivian parliamentary election, which was held amidst the controversial removal of the head and deputy of the country’s Elections Commission concluded largely peacefully on Sunday.
Vote counting gave the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led by former President Mohammad Nasheed who was controversially ousted from power in 2012 a slim lead initially but was soon overtaken by Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
Of the 85 Constituencies 34 seats were won by PPM while their coalition parties Jumhoory Party (JP) bagged 15 seats and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) 5 seats. The MDP by contrast lost their majority in parliament managing only 24 seats.
“A total of 75 complaints were submitted to the Elections Commission. These include three complaints about voters’ names not being on the list; five about anti-campaigning and four complaints regarding bribery,” Elections Commission member Mohammad Manik told reporters.
Yet this was lower than the number of complaints received during the presidential elections last year, Manik assured.
He added that voter numbers were higher in the outlying islands than in urban areas including capital Male where interest appeared modest.
At least six people were detained by Police for showing their marked ballot cards as well as other minor misdemeanours such as attempting to offer bribes and obstructing the police.
President Yameen told reporters while out to vote that he expected his party to get as many as 65 seats but ultimately the count stood at about 55. It is now speculated that he will form a coalition government with PPM, JP, MDA and ideologically leaning Adahalath Party that also won one seat.
There are also five independent seats up for grabs.
Yameen was elected after a prolonged and contentious presidential election spanning nearly three months from 7 October 2013. Half-brother of Maldives long time ruler Abdul Gayoom he joined forces with Jumhoory Party leader and Maldives richest man Gasim Ibrahim to win the polls.
“Our coalition is not going to fall apart after this election,” he told reporters assuring that majority in parliament will be used to “prioritise bills on economic development and the amendment of the penal code.”
The election, which came only five months after Yameen was elected, was seen as the biggest test so far for the President.
A total of 302 candidates, including 23 women contested for the 85 seats in the parliament. Capital Male’ holds the largest number of constituencies at 13, with 7 in Addu City and the remaining 65 constituencies scattered across the Maldives.
The run up to the elections have been steeped in controversy after the Maldives Supreme Court earlier this month handed down suspended prison sentences to the Elections Commissioner and his second in command.
The controversial ruling also removed the two from their posts leaving a virtually headless commission to oversee the parliamentary election.
Supreme Court on 9 March issued a suspended six-month prison sentence for Elections Commission Chair Fuad Thaufeeg, and declared void the membership of the commission’s chair and vice chair.
The prison sentence has been suspended for three years.
The Maldives Supreme Court has repeatedly come under fire from the international community for failing to meet international standards and have been accused of attempting to undermine the independence of the Elections Commission.
The Supreme Court played a significant role in the previous polls where repeated delays, cancelation of voting and complicated regulations were blamed for undermining the democratic process by Nasheed’s party.
The total number of local election monitors was 1920 and this was augmented by two groups of international observers from the European Union and the Commonwealth who arrived in the Indian Ocean group of islands several days ahead of the polls.
Over 1382 candidate representatives also kept an eye on the voting process.
The Commonwealth and European Union also sent groups of monitors to oversee the elections but their findings have not yet been published.
Strong Maldives ally India did not send a monitoring team for this election as they are busy preparing for their own polls in the world’s largest democracy.
It is now all but certain President Yameen will form a new parliament with a two thirds majority.
