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Paper no. 2875
10-Oct-2008
MALDIVES: Maldivians Vote For a Change:
By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
Unofficial election results:
With 95 percent of the counting completed, it looks that there will be a run off to the presidential election with no candidate getting a simple majority.
Unofficial results as given by the Maldivian media are as follows. The final results are unlikely to change the overall standings of the individual candidates:
Abdul Gayoom of DRP and President— 67720- 40.68 percent
Anni of MDP 41843 -25.14 percent
Hassan Saeed, Independent 27528- 16.54 percent
Gasim Ibrahim of Republican Party 25629 -15.4 percent
Umar Naseer of IDP 2397- 1.44 percent
Ibra of SLP 1316- 0.81 percent
Election was peaceful:
In keeping with the call made by the election commission to make it free and peaceful, voting was generally peaceful and despite heavy rains , people in Male turned out in large numbers.
There were 20 international monitors coming from European union, United Nations and the Common wealth. There were also 1400 domestic observers and an additional 400 monitors to oversee the elections. Already over 500 elections related violations have been filed but there were no allegations of rigging, booth capturing etc. a remarkable feat indeed.
Despite acrimonious debates and wild allegations from among the candidates, there were no serious election related violence and the authorities are to be congratulated for running a first ever multiparty elections in a very peaceful manner. Luckily the Supreme Court threw out both the cases against Gayoom and Anni that questioned their eligibility to stand for elections.
The case against Gayoom filed by the SLP argued that Gayoom having served six terms already is ineligible to run for the elections under the new constitution as it will run counter to the whole purpose of the painstaking democratic reform the country had pursued. But it is good and in fact Anni of MDP had also suggested that it is better for the people of Maldives to decide whether Gayoom is acceptable or not,
In view of a peculiar rule that voters will have to register themselves before voting, many of the people who came for voting were initially not allowed to vote as their names did not figure in the voters lists. The Election Commission had an emergency meeting with all the six candidates on 8th afternoon and all but one candidate agreed that the election should go on.
Good sense prevailed, and the Commission allowed all those citizens who had valid identity cards to vote.
What Next?
There are two ways of looking at the results. The DRP would have us believe that it is an endorsement of President Gayoom to continue the reform agenda that he had initiated and mandated by the people to complete the agenda.
The truth is that 60 percent of the voters have rejected President Gayoom to continue in office beyond 10th November when his present term will be over. This was the point made by Mariya Didi, the Chairperson of the MDP also.
Dr. Hassan Saeed the independent candidate, who came third in the elections with over 16 percent had already indicated his unconditional preference for the MDP candidate. He also told the reporters last evening " We are not asking for a stake." He said that he is not for any government post. Similar sentiments were expressed by two of his able colleagues, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed the ex foreign minister and Dr. Ahmed Jameel, the ex. Justice minister.
Thus, Gayoom and Anni can depend upon 40 percent of the votes each in the run off to the elections between the two that will take place within ten days.
The support of Jhumhoory (Republican party) of Gasim Ibrahim with over 15 percent of the votes will be crucial. Gasim Ibrahim was until very recently the Vice President of DRP of Gayoom and the finance minister. As head of the Special Majlis, he did a good job in expediting the reform agenda in the Majlis. Gasim’s position on the run off is still not known
Thus, President Gayoom can still pull off a surprise by getting the support of Gasim Ibrahim. But this will be morally indefensible as the people have definitely voted for a "change." It is still not too late for President Gayoom to withdraw his candidature and allow the two youngsters, Anni and Hassan Saeed to contest the elections in the run off as provided under Article 111 (b) of the constitution
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