The elections commission (EC) president Fuwad Thowfeek on Sunday night disclosed that some members of the commission believe he is biased for working to register The Democrats as a new political party.
The minimum number of members required by law to register a political party is 3000. The Democrats submitted over 3500 forms on June 1.
Senior members of The Democrats complained over the delay in registering the party and stayed inside the commission’s office for several hours on Sunday. They went back to the commission’s office on Sunday night.
Fuwad told The Democrats that two members of the commission wanted to delay the registration and make full use of the three month period granted by law.
“Since the law gives us three months for the verification process, they do not want to register the party before that deadline,” he said.
With less than three months remaining for the presidential election, Fuwad revealed that there was a dispute amongst EC members with some of them claiming to have lost confidence in the commission’s president.
“They accuse me of being biased and influenced by someone else.”
Fuwad said four out of the five members of the commission attended a meeting on Sunday night to vote on the matter of registering The Democrats. The vote ended in a tie of two votes in favor and two against, he added.
“There were four members. It was a tie of two votes each, to give permission and to not give permission. So we could not give permission. When we got two votes, I ruled that it was passed. But since a majority is required, they believe it cannot be passed when it's a tie of two votes,” Fuwad revealed
The EC has five members - president Fuwad, vice president Ismail Habeeb, Ali Nashaath, Dr. Mohamed Zahir and Mohamed Asif. Fuwad did not disclose the members who attended the meeting.
But it is understood that Nashaath and Asif voted against registering The Democrats.
Nashaath told Adhadhu that Fuwad’s claims were untrue and that they proposed to recheck the membership forms because they have “lost confidence in the process.”
“We wanted to recheck [the forms] since we have lost confidence in the process due to the president’s actions,” he said.
He added that a proposal was put forward during the commission’s meeting to recheck the membership forms through a five member committee.
But instead of calling for a vote on the proposal, Fuwad proposed to announce that 3000 forms have been verified and to issue the permit to The Democrats, he added.
“Forms are being checked by the employees hired for the presidential election. He [Fuwad] influences that process. He even entertains them [The Democrats] whenever they come here. Even today, they hijacked the commission’s office with the president’s permission,” Nashaath alleged.
The Democrats and the opposition coalition of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People’s National Congress (PNC) on Sunday night protested in Male’ city over the EC decision.
This comes as an assessment from Transparency Maldives found that public confidence in the EC is declining.
Recent surveys from TM and polls from the International Republican Institute show that 74 percent of people had confidence in the EC in 2013, but it dropped to 43 percent in 2022.
The Democrats, a new party formed under the leadership of ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s president Mohamed Nasheed, wants to field a presidential candidate for the September election.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will contest on the ticket of MDP. Despite remaining in the governing coalition, the Jumhooree Party decided to contest separately and awarded its ticket to the party's leader Qasim Ibrahim.
Former attorney general Dr. Mohamed Munavvar, former defence minister Colonel Mohamed Nazim and former home minister Umar Naseer are also contesting in the election.
