Sunday, 12 October 2008
- International observers say outcome of Maldives Presidential election not affected.
- DRP Presidential running mate praised work of the Elections Commission.
- Kamaluddin applauds staff of DNR and the Maldives Police Service.
MALE, Maldives — Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP) Presidential running mate Minister for Atolls Administration Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and DRP senior members Aneesa Ahmed, Azima Shakoor, Hamdhoon Hameed and Abdullah Kamaluddin spoke to the media at a press conference held at DhiTV studios at 2330hrs last night.
Thasmeen Ali welcomed the Commonwealth observer team’s findings and the statement issued by the U.S. State Departmenton the 2008 Maldivian Presidential elections. He congratulated and expressed support for the Election’s Commission’s (EC) tireless work.
Abdullah Kamaluddin also praised the staff of the Department of National Registration (DNR) for their efforts to ensure the voting rights of the Maldivian people.
International Opinion
Thasmeen Ali welcomed the statements issued by the Commonwealth observers team to the Maldives and the US state department regarding the first round of voting in the 2008 Maldivian Presidential Elections. He said that he would like to second the observer team in saying that for a country which is completely new to the concept of multiparty democracy the elections were relatively well administered.
The Common wealth observer team’s interim statement says that “despite being the country’s first multi-party election, it was inclusive and competitive, as all major political forces fielded a canddidate, alongside one independent”. With reference to voting irregularities which they found the team also said that “the overall number of persons affected remained a minority”. The US State Department also concurred that “the few voting irregularities could not have affected the final outcome”.
According to the website of the EC, the final outcome places DRP candidate incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom at the top with 40% of the votes and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed following second with 25%.
Free & Fair
Thasmeen Ali said that he feels that the EC handled reported voting irregularities in a transparent and inclusive manner as well. He applauded the creation of an independent Complaints Bureau and the inclusion of representatives from all political parties in a meeting to decide whether to continue the first round of voting following reports of problems.
Thasmeen Ali applauded the decision of all parties to urge the EC to solve those problems and continue to allow the people to exercise their right to vote. He also noted the MDP Presidential candidate’s representatives’ efforts to ensure the people that “nothing had gone wrong” in the first round of elections.
Thasmeen Ali said that he feels the attempt by the coalition between the MDP and Jumhooree Party alliances which is officially endorsed by independent Presidential candidate Dr. Hassan Saeed has acted irresponsibly in attempting to discredit a process which took pains to involve those parties at key stages of the first voting round.
Voting Rights
Kamaluddin who is the current Minister for Home Affairs in addition to being a senior member of the DRP applauded the efforts of the staff of the DNR which worked non-stop over 48 hours to ensure that as many National Identity Cards as possible were completed in time for the elections. He said that applications for NIDs were submitted even a day before the election.
He also noted the assistance provided by the Maldives Police Services (MPS) who acted under their mandate to follow the call to national service in order to ensure the provision of the people’s voting rights which are enshrined in the 2008 Constitution of the Maldives.
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