Four governments have passed since the Maldives began holding multiparty elections 15 years ago.

Each time, the chaos of the presidential election campaign is followed by a period of calm after the new President takes office.

This was experienced during the first few months of the governments of former Presidents Mohamed Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

But the experience was different after former Vice President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik took office following a mutiny by the police and military.

Similarly, the current government of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, elected with a large majority, has failed to bring a post-election calm to the country.

The first 100 days of the new government ends today and there was nothing but chaos and unresolved issues during the past few months.

These issues include the decision by Yameen to leave the ruling party, deteriorating relations with India, stalled housing schemes, censorship of news websites, Parliament's rejection of cabinet ministers, fishermen's protest and a move to impeach the President less than three months after he assumed office.

Yameen quits ruling party

Following his election victory, Muizzu called on supporters to stop protesting for the release of the jailed former leader, Yameen, who has been convicted of bribery.

"It is my request that you don't do it. I ask you to give me the opportunity to do this work peacefully," Muizzu said on October 2 while speaking at a rally to celebrate his election victory.

But Yameen's supporters ignored Muizzu's appeal and took to the streets that same night. The first protest against the President was held by members of his party.

Less than a week after Muizzu assumed office, a Yameen faction was formed within the Progressive Party of Maldives-People's National Congress (PPM-PNC) coalition.

Immediate action was taken and former minister Mohamed Maleeh who led the faction was expelled from the party.

Yameen resigned from the party that same night and announced the formation of a new party, the People's National Front (PNF).

The government claims that the pledge to release Yameen has already been fulfilled.

"On the day of the oath-taking on November 17, in his presidential statement, he said very clearly that the government's hand in the judiciary stops right now. The government will not influence the judiciary and will not influence courts or trials. So since that day, the government's influence in the courts had ended. This means that the pledge made by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu in connection to President Yameen has already been fulfilled," government spokesperson Mohamed Shaheeb said on December 28.

India and Maldives become foes

A key pledge made by President Muizzu is the removal of Indian troops stationed in the Maldives to operate two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.

He began efforts to fulfill the pledge on his first day in office. But the efforts were disrupted after three deputy ministers mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The deputy ministers made derogatory remarks at Modi and Indian social media users, including celebrities, retaliated with a campaign to boycott Maldives.

The issue escalated into a diplomatic row and Maldives Ambassador Ibrahim Shaheeb was summoned to the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi.

In response, Indian Ambassador Munu Mahawar was also summoned to the Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Amidst the diplomatic row, Muizzu made his first state visit as President to China. Upon conclusion of the trip, he accused India of bullying smaller countries.

"We are not in the backyard of any particular country. We are an independent and sovereign country. So this basis of territorial integrity is a basis on which China respects us very much," he said.

Without naming India directly, the President said that in the previous government "they had to get permission to get up from one seat and move to another." He repeated that "we will stand on our own feet without relying on anyone."

"China does not influence our internal affairs in any way," Muizzu told reporters at Velana International Airport (VIA) on January 13.

Despite deteriorating relations with India, the government later agreed to have Indian "civil staff" replace the military personnel in Maldives.

Protests by flat recipients

President Muizzu has repeatedly assured the flat recipients of the former government's housing scheme that their flats will be handed over.

But the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) began looking into complaints related to the flats after Muizzu assumed office prompting recipients to begin protests.

In response to the serial protests, Muizzu promised that recipients would get the flats by a specific deadline but failed to keep the promise.

"Making registries and handing over plots/flats to the recipients of plots and flats included in the final list gazetted will go ahead as I have pledged. The Housing Ministry will carry out the work of completing the handover of registries during this week and next week," Muizzu wrote on X on January 2.

With the government's failure to keep that promise, recipients grew more concerned and decided to protest in the ACC building. However, riot police forced the protesters out of the ACC building.

The government has since canceled the flat list and announced that it is working to redetermine the recipients.

“…the ministry is working on arrangements for determining recipients of flats under the Gedhoruveriya scheme,” the Housing Ministry said in its statement on February 10.

The protests by flat recipients are still ongoing. They want flats to be allocated according to the list announced by the former government.

Parliament rejects three cabinet ministers

According to the Constitution, the Cabinet must be appointed and sent to Parliament for approval within seven days. However, the Parliament delayed the approval as the government did not seek approval for the mandates of the ministries.

The Parliament decided to proceed with the approval on January 28. However, MPs representing the government obstructed the session. There were clashes inside the chamber and the session was adjourned.

The session resumed the following day and three cabinet ministers were rejected. They are Attorney General Ahmed Usham and Islamic Minister Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and Housing Minister Dr. Ali Haidar.

But President Muizzu decided to reappoint the rejected ministers that same day. The opposition political parties have criticized the reappointment of rejected ministers and called it a violation of the Constitution.

"This is an act by the executive branch to undermine the separation of powers and the power of the legislative branch. It is even more concerning that the Attorney General is among the reappointed ministers. These ministers will enter their office today without the approval of the People's Majlis," said Mohamed Maleeh, who leads the formation of the opposition PNF.

Unrest during ruling coalition's primaries

While the ruling coalition's candidates were preparing for the parliamentary primaries, they were shocked when a large number of candidates were disqualified.

"As you got caught up in the currents against the party's policies that rose within the party after this coalition won the presidential election, participated in ongoing efforts by some to create discord among the party's regular members, worked to promote those policies, and acted in ways that created divisions within the party...," stated letters sent to some members by PNC Chairperson Abdul Raheem Abdulla, who is also a senior minister at the President's Office.

Some members whose candidacies were revoked went to the PNC office to protest and quarrels broke out between them and members who backed the party's decision. Other candidates decided not to contest in the primaries.

But the decision was reversed by President Muizzu and the coalition said all candidates will be allowed to contest in the primaries.

Voting for the primary began on January 27 amidst complains over irregularities in the voters' list.

"Last night I checked the list and my name was on it. But today my name is missing from the list and the party registry," Ahmed Shaaheen told Adhadhu.

He said about 329 people's names were not on today's voters list.

Meanwhile, the names of some people who had never joined a political party are also on the voters' list.

There were also clashes at some polling stations due to problems with the voters' list. Two ballot boxes were damaged and police had to restore calm.

Currently, campaigning is underway for the parliamentary elections. But a new issue has emerged as "government" candidates are contesting against candidates from the ruling coalition.

Some government ministers are openly campaigning for these independent candidates who claim to have the backing of President Muizzu.

Fishermen's protest

Three months since the government came to power, fishermen say they have not been paid for two of those months. They began protesting and demanded immediate payment.

Fishermen protested inside the Kooddoo Fisheries Complex since February 18.

Some of the fishermen told Adhadhu that they had become indebted and cash-strapped due to the delayed payments. Loans have been taken to pay for essential services, some of them said.

“We can’t live without electricity, right? I have paid the electricity bill now after getting money one way or the other. But the internet has been disconnected from home,” a fisherman said.

According to the government, a backlog of MVR 250 million was inherited. Since then, outstanding payments owed to fishers have remained constant at around MVR 300 million.

The protest was called off after the government-owned Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) started making payments last week.

MVR 70 million was paid off and the government promised to pay off the remaining amount by March 5.

As the government reached its 100-day mark, the people have not been able to breathe freely during this short period. Therefore, it is crucial to address the people's concerns and fulfill the pledges over the next five years. If not, calm can never be established.

This article was first produced in Dhivehi by Adhadhu's Hassan Mohamed.