The Maldives’ first ever multi-party presidential election yesterday was hit by opposition party allegations that the polls had been rigged.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), whose candidate Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed is widely viewed as the strongest challenger to incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said its members were being denied the right to vote.
“I’m getting complaints from all over the Maldives from our party members that their names are not on the electoral list,” said MDP chairperson Mariya Didi, who was also unable to cast her ballot in central Male.
PHOTO: AFP
“We had high hopes for today. We hoped that once in our lifetime we could vote freely, but today we are being denied our right to vote,” she said, adding her entire family also appeared to have been wiped off the electoral roll.
“We have heard that in one island, where there are 66 voters who are MDP members, none have been allowed to vote,” she said, adding that indelible ink put on fingers to prevent double voting was not being used on some islands.
The polls on the Indian Ocean archipelago pit incumbent Gayoom, aged 71 and the islands’ strongman for the past 30 years, against five rivals.
The election is being seen as a test for the Muslim nation’s often tense transition to democracy, which Gayoom — who has served six terms under a one-candidate system — agreed to start two years ago after violent protests.
There was no immediate response to the complaints from the ruling party, whose senior members could be seen voting with no difficulties.
Election Commission spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim Tolal said he was unaware of any complaints.
In all, 208,000 people are eligible to vote. Results are expected today.
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
VENEZUELAN ACTION: Marco Rubio said that previous US interdiction efforts have not stemmed the flow of illicit drugs into the US and that ‘blowing them up’ would US President Donald Trump on Wednesday justified a lethal military strike that his administration said was carried out a day earlier against a Venezuelan gang as a necessary effort by the US to send a message to Latin American cartels. Asked why the military did not instead interdict the vessel and capture those on board, Trump said that the operation would cause drug smugglers to think twice about trying to move drugs into the US. “There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people and everybody fully understands that,” Trump said while hosting Polish President
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
A French couple kept Louise, a playful black panther, in an apartment in northern France, triggering panic when she was spotted roaming nearby rooftops. The pair were were handed suspended jail sentences on Thursday for illegally keeping a wild animal, despite protesting that they saw Louise as their baby. The ruling follows a September 2019 incident when the months-old feline was seen roaming a rooftop in Armentieres after slipping out of the couple’s window. Authorities captured the panther by sedating her with anesthetic darts after she entered a home. No injuries were reported during the animal’s time on the loose. The court in the
RSS