Nasheed backtracks on coalition as Maldives’ polls stretch to a second round run-off
Monday, 9 September 2013 00:09
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By Uditha Jayasinghe in Malé
Ousted former President Mohamed Nasheed was jovially confident on Sunday that he would win the second round of the Maldivian presidential run-off but did not rule out forming a coalition despite a strong first round lead.
Nasheed, who remains the country’s first democratically elected president, was controversially removed from power in an alleged coup in February 2012.
However, in the run-up to the first round vote on Saturday, he was adamant that his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) would sweep the polls and gain the 50% voter nod needed to become the next head of state.
Yet, by the early hours of Sunday morning, Nasheed had only managed to get 45% of the vote, putting him some 10,000 votes behind his goal.
“We’ve had a very smooth and very peaceful election. Of course, we have some issues with some of the ballot boxes. We believe at some boxes voter turnout is higher than the electoral list and we would like the Elections Commission to explain these irregularities and discrepancies to us. We believe that we have performed well and we believe that we will be able to win these elections hands down during the next round,” he told media following the release of results.
This means that former President Abdul Gayoom’s half-brother MP Abdulla Yameen or tycoon Gasim Ibrahim will be Nasheed’s rival in the second round, with preliminary results released by the Election Commission too close to make a call.
Ibrahim polled 24% of the vote while Yameen edged ahead by just a slim 25.5%.
Current President Mohammad Waheed who controversially took power from former President Nasheed in February 2012 made a poor show only managing to get 5.3% of the vote.
Voter turnout, according to monitors was close to 90%.
Nasheed insisted that he would lodge a complaint with the country’s Election Commission seeking a recount of some of the ballot boxes.
“By and large the Elections Commission has been very competent but there are instances where a few ballot boxes can be questioned because of this small margin through which we are having to go to second round we believe that it would be prudent for the process and the future if the Elections Commission would clarify these issues and go forward.”
He pointed out that such “clarity” could still give the MDP a slim chance of winning the election in the first round since Maldives’ law gives seven days for adjustment of voting results.
An estimated six ballot boxes, Nasheed alleged, did not provide credible results, with the Police being involved in one instance of malpractice.
“Even last night after all these conversations and after having raised everything, the Police thought it fit to enter in a ballot box and close that box without the observers’ presence; such heavy-handed actions never help an electoral process,” he went on to say, but praised the performance of the Police and military in general for keeping “renegade elements” in check.
As a next step, Nasheed will sit with his senior party stalwarts to decide if and who to form a coalition with and noted that the most ideologically matched party had made a poor show by backing incumbent President Mohamed Waheed.
“We will be talking to individuals to come around to our manifesto and we have been led to understand that they do believe in our manifesto and they do want to implement that.”
