MDA questions High Court’s validation of a ballot twice rejected at count

Despite the Elections Commission (EC) having declared Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) candidate Mohamed Shahid the winner of the Dh. Meedhoo council president seat, the party said Thursday that the court process was not fair.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the High Court delivered rulings in two election‑related cases in which the ruling PNC had suffered defeats in the recent local council elections. On Wednesday, the court invalidated three votes cast for an MDP candidate in the L. Veyvah council race due to ink dots on the ballot papers. With the three votes removed, the MDP candidate’s tally fell from 121 to 118, handing the PNC candidate victory with 119 votes.

On Thursday, the High Court also ruled in favour of the PNC candidate in the Dh. Meedhoo council president case.

The EC had initially announced that PNC candidate Suha Ibrahim won the Meedhoo seat by a single vote, 393 votes to MDA candidate Mohamed Shahid’s 392.

However, the MDA filed a complaint after discovering that an ineligible person had voted at a polling station in L. Fonadhoo. Suha also filed a complaint alleging that some of Shahid’s votes were invalid.

After reviewing the complaints, the EC revised the results and declared Shahid the winner by one vote. Suha then petitioned the High Court, arguing that one of her votes had been wrongly invalidated due to a line drawn on the ballot in ink that was not used to mark the vote.

On Thursday, the High Court ruled that the invalidated ballot was in fact valid, and ordered the EC to amend and re‑announce the results. The unanimous ruling was delivered by Justice Ismail Shafeeu, Chief Justice Abdullah Jameel Moosa and Justice Hassan Shafeeu.

Speaking to Sun, MDA Registrar Mohamed Umar said he believed the Meedhoo case was not being handled in a just or fair manner.

“The vote validated Thursday was definitely a two‑mark vote. It was invalidated when it was counted in Meedhoo and when it was counted in Male'. The vote has been validated and now we’re tied,” Umar said.

The High Court delivered its ruling after postponing the earlier scheduled hearing date.

With Thursday’s ruling, both Suha and Shahid now stand at 392 votes each. In the event of a tie, the Dh. Meedhoo council president must be elected through a re‑poll.