MALE: Former president Mohamed Nasheed demanded the Maldives’ presidential polls take place as scheduled today despite warnings by organisers that it could be halted over disputed electoral rolls.
Nasheed is the frontrunner for the election re-run, which was ordered by the Supreme Court when it annulled the results of a first ballot on September 7.
The 46-year-old Nasheed topped last month’s abortive contest although he fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed for outright victory.
“There is nothing wrong with the lists. The elections commission is obliged to hold the elections,” Nasheed told reporters yesterday after meeting Fuwad Thowfeek, the commission’s chairman.
Nasheed called on Thowfeek shortly after the elections chief warned today’s polls could be scrapped at the last minute as two of the candidates have still to endorse the electoral roll.
Just hours before polling stations were due to open, Thowfeek said Nasheed was the only one of the three candidates who had approved the lists.
While urging the other two candidates -- Abdullah Yameen and Qasim Ibrahim -- to endorse the list of names, Thowfeek acknowledged the pair could prevent the contest from taking place. Thowfeek said he had tried to reach the two men through mobile phones, text messages and even sent messengers to their homes, but was so far still unable to secure their approval for the voter lists which contain just over 239,000 names.
Underlining the chaos, Maldivian police in a statement said it had kept boats on standby to take ballots to far-flung atolls but was awaiting the green light from election authorities.
Nasheed, who claims he was ousted in a coup last year, won 45.45 percent of the votes cast when the Indian Ocean archipelago went to the polls for a first round on September 7.
Yameen, who is the half brother of the islands’ long-time ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, won 25.35 percent and would have faced Nasheed in a run-off against Nasheed last month. But the Supreme Court subsequently annulled the result, citing irregularities, although international observers said the polls were free and fair.
The decision to order a re-run today also allowed the third-placed candidate Ibrahim, who launched the legal challenge, to re-enter the contest.
AFP
