Maldives top court annuls 7 September presidential vote
Wednesday, 9 October 2013 01:29
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The Maldives Supreme Court on Monday (7 October) annulled the results of the 7 September presidential election and scheduled a fresh vote for 20 October after a candidate challenged the outcome, citing irregularities.
The Maldives, a tropical Indian Ocean resort archipelago, suspended a presidential run-off election that was due to take place on 28 September after the Supreme Court ordered officials to postpone it.
The run-off had been expected to help end months of political turmoil triggered by the removal of former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was ousted from power 20 months ago amid a mutiny by police.
Nasheed had won a first round on 7 September with 45.45% of the vote, but fell short of the 50% needed for outright victory.
Members of his party said on Tuesday (8 October) they are confident of the re-run.
“It is not a matter of acceptance or non-acceptance. We have to have a vote in the Maldives and we have to complete the process in order to find who is winner. We are quite confident that it will not be a difficult road for us to win these elections,” said Ahmed Naseem, the former Maldivian Foreign Minister and a senior member of the Maldivian Democratic Party.
“This is the first Muslim country that, 100% Muslim country actually, that has embarked on a journey of succeeding in a home-grown democracy and this is quite remarkable. So, we must succeed in this democratic process. Otherwise, I think the region fails, the international community fails and we fail very badly,” added Naseem, speaking in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Four of seven judges approved the decision. The other three, including Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain, said there was no legal basis to annul the election.
Judge Ahmed Abdulla Didi, who voted in favour of annulling the poll cited a confidential police report claiming 5,623 ineligible voters had cast votes, including some who were dead, under-age voters, and some using fake identity cards.
Local and international election observers, including delegations from the Commonwealth, the United Nations, the European Union and India, had declared the 7 September election free and fair.
Naseem said a successful election is crucial for the international community too.
“Maldives has two, three international channels through which about $ 800 billion worth of cargo pass through. Nobody wants a failed state in Maldives. It will become a failed state if they don’t have elections, if we don’t get back to democracy that we all aspire. We have tasted freedom; people have tasted freedom for three years. They have been free. They are not going to forget this and go back to 30 years of brutality. No I don’t believe that,” he said.
The Maldives Election Commission, which prepared for the run-off on 28 September, was forced to cancel it at the last moment after the Supreme Court ordered security forces to take action against anyone who violated its order of postponing the vote.
