Maldives: Supreme Court to decide fate of president polls

Male: The fate of the first round of presidential elections in the Maldives, won by former President Mohamed Nasheed, would be decided by a full bench of the Supreme Court which started hearing the matter, media reports said here. A full bench of seven judges has admitted the plea of the Jumhooree Party seeking annulment of presidential elections and conducted its first hearing yesterday. [caption id=“attachment_1117681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mohammed Nasheed. AFP. [/caption] The hearing will continue today, local media said. The Jumhooree Party (JP) whose candidate Gasim Ibrahim missed the second round, scheduled on September 28, by a whisker has alleged irregularities in the voters’ list and requested the apex court to annul first round of elections. Business tycoon Ibrahim’s running mate and former Attorney General Hassan Saeed alleged that voters’ list included bogus voters, repetition of names and inclusion of dead voters in the list. He was joined by close aide of President Mohamed Waheed, Attorney General Azima Shukoor and also lawyers of Progressive Party of Maldives whose candidate Abdullah Gayoon, being runner-up, would face Nasheed in the second round. Waheed stood last in the first round with just over five per cent of the total votes, on September 7. Saeed was quoted by ‘Minivan News’ as saying that besides annulment of elections, JP requested involvement of security services in overseeing entire electoral process and cancellation of second round scheduled on September 28. The Election Commission’s counsels rejected claims of any irregularities saying first round can only be annulled if there is evidence to prove that there were issues that could affect the outcome of the elections, ‘Haveeru’ daily reported. During the three-hour-long first hearing, the Commission, which received praise from international community for fair elections, asserted before the bench that JP failed to produce any evidence to buttress its claims of rigging. The first round of election which took place in the presence of over 2,000 international observers saw former President Mohamed Nasheed winning it with overwhelming majority of over 45 per cent but missed crucial half-way mark. With no candidate managing over 50 per cent of vote, a second round would take place on September 28 in which Nasheed would face brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Abdulla Yameen who finished as runner-up. PTI