Maldives Supreme Court Delays Presidential Elections
The Supreme Court of the Maldives on Monday delayed the final round of presidential elections due this weekend following a legal challenge, threatening more political instability in the troubled Indian Ocean archipelago.
"We order the Elections Commission and other relevant state institutions to delay the second round of the presidential election scheduled for 28 September 2013 until the Supreme Court issues a verdict in this case," read a ruling from the court.
The court has been holding hearings in a case filed by the Jumhooree Party, which demanded that the results of the first round on September 7 be annulled because of alleged discrepancies.
The election was seen as a test for the young democracy a year and a half after the violent ousting of the country's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed.
Nasheed won the first round comfortably with 45.45 percent of the vote, but faced a run-off contest on Saturday against Abdullah Yameen, the half-brother of the islands' former autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
"The Supreme Court has gone against all common sense, international opinion and the majority of the country without any evidence to do so," an MP from Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party, Hamed Abdul Ghafoor, said.
Nasheed resigned in February last year after a mutiny by police that he branded a coup, allegedly orchestrated by Gayoom, who ruled the honeymoon islands for three decades.
The Election Commission confirmed to Agence France Presse that it had stopped all preparations for Saturday's vote in the country, home to about 350,000 Muslims spread across more than 1,000 coral-fringed islands.
Nasheed's opponents had raised concerns about the commission and the electoral rolls before and after the first vote, leading to fears of a contested result that would lead to more uncertainty.
Local and international observer groups found the first round of voting to be free and fair.
"It is standard practice anywhere to issue an order like this pending the investigation into our allegations of irregularities in the first round," Hassan Saeed from the Jumhooree Party told AFP.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "We encourage all political parties to work together peacefully and ensure that the democratic process can continue in a way that respects the rule of law and that represents the will of the Maldivian people."
Last year's violent power change, which saw Nasheed replaced by his deputy Mohamed Waheed, hurt the local tourist industry and left a bitter legacy of distrust.
Nasheed, a former political prisoner and pro-democracy campaigner, has railed against the country's judiciary, which he views as being biased and intent on protecting the interests of Gayoom and a handful of tycoons who control the tourist industry.
His opponent in the second round, Yameen, told local newspaper Minivan News that there was "nothing unconstitutional" in the Supreme Court's order.
"The Elections Commission got the opportunity to argue out their case and establish the credibility of the process," he said.
Regional power India and the United Nations had called on the Maldives authorities to hold credible elections that would resolve the instability in the strategically located country.
Nasheed came to power in 2008 when he defeated Gayoom in the country's first free presidential elections.
Source: Agence France Presse
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