As Maldives votes in a key presidential election on Sunday amidst a government crackdown and Opposition fears of rigging, President Abdulla Yameen told The Sunday Express that his administration was \u201ccommitted to holding free, fair and transparent elections\u201d. \u201cIf elected, my administration is further committed to fulfilling our vision of an independent and progressive Maldives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Opposition alleged that the Maldives Police had entered their campaign headquarters in Male around 4 pm. \u201cNo court warrant was produced. They raided the building citing illegal activities. People are prevented from leaving or entering the premises,\u201d said a message from the Opposition coalition late Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
Maldives opposition leader and two Supreme Court judges have been arrested after the government declared a state of emergency. The charges against opposition leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom include bribery and attempting to overthrow the government.<\/p>\n
The Indian Ocean archipelago is going into this election without two of its former presidents 80-year-old Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is in prison, and Mohamed Nasheed, who is in exile in Colombo. They are among a long list of politicians and members of the judiciary who are in prison or in exile, among them Yameen\u2019s first vice president Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, who in London, and Chief Justice of the country\u2019s Supreme Court, Abdulla Saeed, who is behind bars.<\/p>\n
When asked about charges of running an authoritarian regime, Yameen said \u201cjustice is blind\u201d. \u201cNo one has been charged, detained or sentenced outside of the procedures outlined in our Constitution, Laws and Regulations,\u201d he said. With the international community, including China, India, US and the European Union, closely watching the election, Yameen said \u201cinternational partners must respect our right to self-determination, a founding principle of the charter of the UN\u201d.<\/p>\n
Eva Abdulla, one of the three women Opposition parliamentarians, accused the country\u2019s election commission of committing \u201cblatant fraud\u201d. \u201cPresident Yameen is using the entire state apparatus for his campaign. There is no distinction between the ruling party\u2019s office and the President\u2019s office. Government vehicles are being used to bring people for political rallies, officers of the EC are seen doing political work,\u201d she said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Official spokeperson for the joint Opposition, Ahmed Mahloof, an MP who is currently in house arrest, said they had received reports of \u201cpossible rigging during the counting process\u201d. \u201cThe election commission, judiciary and all crucial institutions are controlled by President Yameen. We are really worried about this election. But if he ensures a transparent process, we will win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Maldives votes in a key presidential election on Sunday amidst a government crackdown and Opposition fears of rigging, President Abdulla Yameen told The Sunday Express that his administration was \u201ccommitted to holding free, fair and transparent elections\u201d. \u201cIf elected, my administration is further committed to fulfilling our vision of an independent and progressive Maldives,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42801,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42799\/revisions\/42801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}