Maldives will elect a leader through credible elections, says former president Gayoom

Former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has said that the Maldives will elect a new leader through credible elections, which holds the confidence of the people.

In a statement published on Facebook, the former president stated that emphasis in the Supreme Court’s 7 October ruling was on protecting the right of every citizen to vote freely in a credible atmosphere, where no fraudulent voting would be possible.

“We don't want to allow such vote rigging to happen again. We want a person who is elected in a credible election to be our president,” the statement read.

He further stated that Elections Commission must comply fully with the Supreme Court guidelines.

“As established in court, over 5,600 votes in the 22,000 votes contained in 50 randomly selected boxes were fraudulent,” former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom stated.

He also called on the Elections Commission to hold a free, fair, credible and transparent presidential election as soon as possible.

Citing irregularities in polls and ordering fresh election, Maldives Supreme Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election held on September 7 2013.

Allowing a 13 day period to hold elections, the court set the deadline for first round of re-run election to be held before 20 October, the court also issued a 16-point guideline which ordered the electoral commission to have the final voters' list readied and endorsed by the candidates before polls.

The Elections Commission tried to hold the re-run election on 19 October and failed amidst allegations that the commission was breaching the Supreme Court guideline.

With the candidates refusing to endorse the voters' list without having them verified and the police refusing to support the commission to breach the Supreme Court guidelines and go ahead without the endorsements, the commission called off the re-run election just hours before polling last Saturday.