MALE: The Maldives’ top court suspended the presidential election runoff scheduled for yesterday, blocking a vote for the third time in two months and raising fears of a prolonged political crisis in the young democracy.
Western countries have warned that delays in resolving the crisis will damage the Indian Ocean atoll nation and its fragile tourism-dependent economy.
Opposition leader and ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, who was ousted in February 2012 in what he calls a coup, had appeared set to return to office after winning almost 47 percent of the vote in the first round of voting on Saturday.
His challenger in the runoff would have been Abdulla Yameen, half-brother of the country’s former autocratic ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who won almost 30 percent.
But the candidate who placed third on Saturday had insisted his supporters need more time to decide who to back in the runoff. Just hours before the runoff vote was due to begin, the Supreme Court postponed it until November 16, despite a constitutional deadline of November 11 to elect a new president.
“All relevant state authorities are informed that today’s election cannot take place,” the court said in its pre-dawn decision. The 2008 constitution, which ended 30 years of one-party rule by Gayoom, states the new president must be elected by the time the outgoing president’s term ends today.
Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) condemned the court decision as a deliberate attempt to block the former president’s return.
“It is obvious the Supreme Court is doing its best to find a way to give the best chance to Yameen to become the next president,” said MDP leader Ahmed Naseem.AFP
