Maldives political issues to be discussed at top Commonwealth meet in Sri Lanka
Wednesday, 13 November 2013 00:01
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By Uditha Jayasinghe
Political disarray in the Maldives will be discussed by the Commonwealth during a high-profile meeting today (13) in Colombo.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma told reporters the long-drawn-out presidential election battle will be discussed by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) set to meet on Wednesday morning.
“The Commonwealth remains strongly involved in the Maldives. The transition of Maldives into a democracy was done with the assistance of the Commonwealth. As far as the elections are concerned, the latest round has been good, the results have been accepted by candidates, and we hope that the next round will be held on schedule,” he said.
Sharma admitted there is a constitutional void but expressed hope that it would be addressed at a future date.
“CMAG will take an appropriate decision in connection with this matter,” he added.
Maldives President Mohamed Waheed Hassan has decided to remain in office despite the end of his term and defied international calls for an interim arrangement.
This is in defiance of the Maldives Constitution, which demands that the Speaker of Parliament take over from 11 November until a new president is sworn in.
President Waheed’s action follows a Supreme Court ruling which prevented a last ditch attempt to elect a new a president over the weekend before the Constitution deadline.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had warned that the country could be heading for a constitutional crisis without a leader, but the Supreme Court Saturday ruled that outgoing President Mohamed Waheed Hassan can remain as a caretaker.
However, Nasheed has called for Waheed’s resignation insisting that holding a second round runoff on 16 November under him would be “unconstitutional”.
Nasheed on Saturday garnered 46.93% of the popular vote but fell short of the 50% needed to win outright.
Nasheed was to have faced former President Abdul Gayoom’s half-brother Abdulla Yameen in a second round runoff on Sunday.
Waheed came into power after controversially ousting Nasheed from power in February 2012. The latter remains the first democratically-elected president of the Maldives and insists his removal was a coup.
This is the third attempt being made to elect a new president by Maldives.
Political wrangling over the electoral list has already derailed a previous election on 19 October, which the Police blocked at the last minute because the lists were not signed by Yameen and fellow candidate tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.
The first round of voting on 7 September that also saw Nasheed emerge as winner was also later annulled by the Supreme Court after Gasim alleged large-scale vote rigging.
