Elections Commission (EC) president Fuwad Thowfeek said today that he declared the registration of The Democrats by mistake after only two members of the five-member commission voted for approval.
When the registration of The Democrats, a new party formed by supporters of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) president Mohamed Nasheed, was put to a vote during an emergency meeting of the EC held last night, two members voted in favour of registration.
However, despite two votes for approval of the item proposed by Fuwad at the meeting with four members in attendance, Fuwad decided at the time that it has been passed. But when members objected, Fuwad retracted his decision.
"It was what I thought at the time. But when I checked the law properly, it says a majority [is required for approval]. So it can't be passed. There are matters in various parts of the world that can be passed with 50 percent or half," Fuwad explained.
"All the laws don't come to mind suddenly when I'm working under pressure like this. But [considering that two votes are enough for approval] was wrong. That was a mistake I made."
Aside from Fuwad, the commission's vice president Ismail Habeeb and members Ali Nashaath and Mohamed Asif attended last night's meeting. Commission member Dr. Mohamed Zahir is in Mecca to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.
"There are four members now. It was a two votes to two votes tie to approve or not. So we couldn't approve. When there were two votes, I did decide that it has been approved. But because majority is required, two votes aren't enough to pass," Fuwad said last night while speaking to members of The Democrats who were at the commission office.
Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of the EC's regulations state, "Decisions to be made by the commission must be passed at a meeting of the commission," and that, "A majority of the members who voted is required for approval at a commission meeting." The quorum for a commission meeting is three members.
The two members who voted against registering The Democrats wanted to create a five-member committee to re-check the forms. This is because of suspicions that the forms are being processed under the influence of the commission's president, the members said. They alleged that Fuwad used employees to process The Democrats' forms when it was not part of their job responsibility.
“We wanted to recheck [the forms] since we have lost confidence in the process due to the president’s actions,” Nashaath told Adhadhu last night.
“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 [on Sunday], they hijacked the commission’s office with the president’s permission."
The presidential election is scheduled to take place on September 9 and president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will be contesting. The Democrats have also said they will be fielding a candidate.
While the dispute within the EC was revealed last night, parliament has ceased to function with parties unable to agree on assigning MPs to committees. No-confidence motions were also filed against speaker Mohamed Nasheed and deputy speaker Eva Abdulla. Since then, Nasheed has recused himself from presiding over sittings.
