Maldives polls: Nasheed leading in first round

Male: Former President Mohamed Nasheed was tonight ahead in the first round of the Maldives' presidential election but may fall short of the crucial 50 per cent mark by a whisker, raising the prospect of a run-off between the top two candidates.

The Election Commission announced results from 315 of the total of 470 ballot boxes as per with 45-year-old Nasheed secured 45 per cent of the votes while President Mohamed Waheed got about 8 per cent votes.

"The results from 315 ballot boxes have come... 45 per cent of votes have gone to Mohammed Nasheed, who is the highest scorer, 26 per cent has gone to Progressive Party of Maldives candidate (Abdullah Yamee) and 24 to Jumhooree Party candidate (Gasim Ibrahim)," President of Election Commission Fuwad Taufeek said.

"Waheed has got about 8 per cent," he told a press conference.

Taufeek said none of the candidates has got more than 50 per cent of the votes.

Under the country's election laws, if none of the candidates get more than 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off will take place between the top two candidates.

A run-off could see Nasheed contesting against Gasim Ibrahim or Abdullah Yameen.

President Mohamed Waheed was struggling with little over five per cent of the votes.

The second round of elections is scheduled for September 28 and the new President has to take charge by November 11.

Four candidates - President Waheed, former President and Maldivian Democratic Party candidate Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen, the brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives, and Jumhooree Party candidate and business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim - are in the fray for the top job.

Polling was peaceful barring one minor incident at Dhiggaru island on Meemu atoll, where voting began two hours behind schedule because of a tussle between local observers and voters.

According to reports, observers wanted to vote first but people who had lined up at the booths since early morning objected.

Police arrested some persons who were trying to use fake ID cards to vote.

All the candidates expressed satisfaction with the election process.

The wife of President Waheed, who accompanied him to vote, was asked by election staff to join a queue following which she returned without casting her ballot.

Over 2,229 local observers, 102 international observers, 1,343 representatives of political parties, 1,642 local and 225 international journalists are keeping a close watch on developments in this young multi-party democracy.

An Indian delegation consisting of former Chief Election Commissioners J M Lyngdoh, B B Tandon and N Gopalaswami and former High Commissioner S M Gavai is observing the polls.

The first multi-party free elections, held in the Indian Ocean archipelago in 2008 after three decades of Mohammed Abdul Gayoom's rule, were won by Nasheed.

He had to resign after four years when security forces joined protests led by the opposition parties over the arrest of a judge.

Nasheed's ouster resulted in the elevation of then Vice-President Waheed. Nasheed had termed this change of power as a coup and said he would bring the alleged perpetrators to book if he wins.

According to constitutional provisions adopted by the country after the 2008 election, mid-term polls cannot be conducted.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/maldives-polls-nasheed-leading-in-first-round-415775

Maldives polls: Ousted Nasheed may miss majority in first round

MALE: Former President Mohamed Nasheed on Saturday led the first round of the Maldives presidential election but might miss the crucial 50 per cent mark by a whisker, making a run-off between the top two candidates imminent.


According to trends from the election commission, 45-year-old Nasheed, who had to resign under duress in February last year, led in the initial trends but slowly lost the edge and stabilised at 42.84 per cent of votes.

Under the country's election laws, if none of the candidates get more than 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off will take place between the top two candidates.

The election commission said 187 of the 470 ballot boxes had been counted so far. Over 70 per cent of 2.30 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the first round of the election here on Saturday.

A run-off could see Nasheed contesting against Gasim Ibrahim or Abdullah Yameen, who have bagged 24.36 per cent and 27.58 per cent votes respectively.

President Mohamed Waheed was struggling with little over five per cent of the votes.

The second round of elections is scheduled for September 28 and the new president has to take charge by November 11.

Four candidates - President Waheed, former President and Maldivian Democratic Party candidate Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen, the brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives, and Jumhooree Party candidate and business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim - are in the fray for the top job.

Polling was peaceful barring one minor incident at Dhiggaru island on Meemu atoll, where voting began two hours behind schedule because of a tussle between local observers and voters.

According to reports, observers wanted to vote first but people who had lined up at the booths since early morning objected.

Police arrested some persons who were trying to use fake ID cards to vote.

All the candidates expressed satisfaction with the election process.

The wife of President Waheed, who accompanied him to vote, was asked by election staff to join a queue following which she returned without casting her ballot.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Maldives-polls-Ousted-Nasheed-may-miss-majority-in-first-round/articleshow/22402519.cms

Maldivians hope election will end months of turmoil, questions of government legitimacy

MALE, Maldives — Voters in the Maldives went to the polls Saturday amid hopes that questions about the legitimacy of the government will finally be answered 19 months after the ouster of the first democratically elected president in the country, best known for its luxury island resorts.

About 240,000 people were eligible to vote in the election to pick a leader from among four candidates, though voter turnout was not immediately known. The polls closed late Saturday afternoon, and final election results were expected hours later.The candidates included the Indian Ocean archipelago’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, who says he was ousted in a coup.

Nasheed, who won the country’s first multiparty election in 2008, ending 30 years of autocracy, resigned last year after weeks of public protests and slipping support from the military and police. He later said he was forced to resign at gunpoint by mutinying security forces and politicians backed by the country’s former autocrat.

Though a domestic commission of inquiry has dismissed Nasheed’s claim, the country has been in political turmoil ever since. Nasheed has repeatedly dismissed as illegal the government of his former vice president — current President Mohamed Waheed Hassan, who was also an election candidate.

Nasheed and Hassan were competing against Yaamin Abdul Qayyoom, a brother of Maldives’ former autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and businessman Qasim Ibrahim.

With 99 of the country’s 470 ballot boxes counted, Nasheed was leading with 41 percent of the vote, with Qayyoom second at 28 percent. Qayyoom and Nasheed were considered the leading candidates.

If no candidate gets at least 51 percent of the vote, the top two vote getters will face off in a second round of voting on Sept. 28.

“The ruling government came (to power) not in a very good manner,” Ahmed Ilyas, a 37-year-old port employee, said after voting. “Hopefully, after the election the international community and the locals will fully cooperate with the government.”

About 240,000 of the Maldives’ 350,000 citizens were eligible to vote.

“We are hoping it (the government) will be stable instead of an interim one in which we don’t know which way we are going,” said Jameel, a young voter who would give only his first name.

The next president must form a credible government, build up public confidence in government institutions that are accused of political bias, such as the courts, police and military, and deal with pressing issues, including high unemployment, increasing drug addiction among young people and improving transportation among the nation’s far-off islands in the Indian Ocean.

Nasheed’s fall from power last year came after he ordered the military to arrest a senior judge whom he accused of bias.

“This is absolutely crucial,” Qayyoom said of the election after voting at a school in the capital, Male. “Things have gone so wrong in the past five years, it’s absolutely imperative that we change for the better this time.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/maldivian-voters-hope-election-will-end-months-of-turmoil-questions-of-government-legitimacy/2013/09/07/fef49730-1784-11e3-961c-f22d3aaf19ab_story.html

Ousted Nasheed leads in Maldives vote after unrest, run-off looms

Partial presidential election results in the Maldives showed Mohamed Nasheed leading on Saturday, nearly 20 months after his removal from power ignited months of sometimes violent unrest.

But he was likely to fall short of a majority, officials in his party said, suggesting a run-off vote was on the cards.

Nasheed, the Maldives’ first democratically-elected president, was forced from office in February 2012 in what his supporters say was a coup. The turmoil tarnished the Indian Ocean archipelago’s image as a tropical holiday paradise.

Critical challenges ahead for the next president include a rise in Islamist ideology, human rights abuses and lack of investor confidence after President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik’s government cancelled the country’s biggest foreign investment project with India’s GMR Infrastructure.

Nasheed was leading at 1800 GMT on Saturday with 45 percent with 453 ballot boxes counted out of a total of 470, followed by his main rival Abdulla Yameen with 25 percent, state-run Television Maldives said.

Television Maldives tweeted that it could “predict a run-off round of elections based on current election results”.

Mohamed Aslam, a senior member of Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and a former minister of housing and environment, said his party was “preparing for a second round”.

“We didn’t get what we wanted from Male,” he said. The capital is one of Nasheed’s strongholds.

“Voting today is significant because we are going to establish a legitimate government,” Nasheed said early in the day outside the polling centre where he cast his ballot.

THREE OTHER CONTENDERS

He was running against three rivals, including Waheed, who succeeded him as president.

Yameen is a half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for 30 years and was considered a dictator by opponents and rights groups. “I hope to get through in the first round itself,” Yameen told reporters before he cast his vote.

Also on the ballot was Gasim Ibrahim, a resort tycoon, media business owner and an ex-finance minister under Gayoom. Gasim and Wahid had 24 and 5 percent respectively of votes counted.

Officials at the Election Commission said turnout could be around 80 percent, compared with 85 percent in the 2008 vote.

“I’ve been waiting 19 months for this day. So I got here as early as I could. It’s my way of standing up against the coup,” said voter Ismail Shiyaz, 39, a supporter of Nasheed.

Others, like Rooya Hussain, were less certain.

“I don’t think any of these candidates are suitable,” she said. “However, I cast a valid vote for one of them. Let’s see if this brings any change for the better.”

Election commissioner Fuad Thowfeek said there had been “no serious issues” apart from delays caused by long queues at some polling stations and campaigning during the polling.

Before the polling ended, Transparency Maldives, which deployed 400 observers for poll monitoring, said the conduct of the election was satisfactory.

Nasheed said earlier he had support in the ranks of the military and police and expressed confidence he would secure 50 percent of the vote to win in the first round.

He was forced to resign in 2012 after mutinying police and military forces armed opposition demonstrators and gave him an ultimatum.

His removal sparked unruly protests by his supporters and a heavy-handed police crackdown, pushing the country into crisis. A Commonwealth-backed commission of inquiry later concluded that his removal did not constitute a coup.

The Maldives, a sultanate for almost nine centuries before becoming a British protectorate, held its first fully democratic vote in 2008 with Nasheed defeating Gayoom, an autocrat who was then Asia’s longest-serving leader.Source:

Maldives electing new president after instability

A presidential election in the Maldives has drawn long queues of voters. Contesting the poll in the Indian Ocean archipelago are four candidates, including incumbent Mohamed Waheed and ousted predecessor Mohamed Nasheed.

The Maldives voted for a new president on Saturday after instability last year prompted tourists to avoid the "paradise" destination. Monitors include international observers from Commonwealth countries.

If none of the candidates scores more than 50 percent, a run-off is scheduled for September 28.

Waheed (pictured above, c.), 60, a former news anchor and ex-UN official, came to power in February 2012 when security forces mutinied, forcing the departure of Nasheed as Maldives first democratically elected president during a row over the arrest of a top judge.

At the time Waheed was vice-president. In Saturday's contest, he is seeking election to a full term on issues such as social protection for women and compulsory education for children.

The 46-year-old Nasheed, a keen scuba diver and advocate of social programs, grabbed world headlines on climate change in 2009 when he held a cabinet meeting under water.

The other candidates are resort tycoon Qasim Ibrahim and Abdulla Yameen, a parliamentarian and the half-brother of former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for three decades until 2008.

Keeping watch

Transparency International, a Germany-based anti-corruption group, has organized more than 400 local volunteers to monitor the voting.

A spokesman for Transparency Maldives, Aiman Rasheed, said there were no serious incidents at the start of voting.

"We had a few issues regarding access [of] voters to polling booths, but that was resolved," Rasheed said.

Also present is a 17-member Commonwealth election group under the guidance of former Maltese prime minister Lawrence Gonzi.

The Maldives 2008 election drew a turnout of 85 percent. This time, 240,000 voters are registered to vote, including 66,000 abroad. Ballot boxes were due to be made available in the Maldivian diplomatic missions in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and London.

The Indian Ocean archipelago, comprising 1,192 scattered coral islands, rises to 2.4 meters above sea level at its highest point. Sea-level rise attributed to climate change has been a key election issue.

Source: http://www.dw.de/maldives-electing-new-president-after-instability/a-17072815