PPM beats Nasheed

Progressive Party of the Maldives, led by former President Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom, has beaten his successor Mahomet Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party in a parliamentary by-election for the second time this year, when it won today’s by-election to elect an MP for the vacant seat of Ungoofaaru Constituency in the People’s Majlis.

Temporary results of the by-election conducted today show that PPM candidate Ibrahim Ameen won 1159 votes against a total of 1078 collected by MDP candidate Dr. Ahmed Ashraf.

Voting in the by-election began today morning at 8 o’clock, and voting queues were closed at 4 o’clock as scheduled and announced by the Elections Commission of the Maldives.

Ballot boxes for today’s election were placed in Ungoofaaru, Hulhuduffaaru, and Maakurathu, the three islands in Raa Atoll comprising Ungoofaaru Constituency. In addition, there was a ballot box at Taajuddin School in Malé, the nation’s capital, for voters from the Constituency currently residing in the city. The Elections Commission said that everything went smoothly, without any chaos or trouble.

As soon as the vote counting came to a close, and PPM’s victory was becoming more and more certain, jubilation on the social media went into a frenzy, with hundreds and hundreds of people sending messages of congratulations to Ameen on Facebook and twitter.

According to statistics published by the Elections Commission of the Maldives, 838 voters in Hulhuduffaaru, 874 in Ungoofaaru, 638 in Maakurathu, and 453 residing in Malé were registered for voting. There are 3221 eligible voters in the constituency, although some of them had not registered for voting.

Ungoofaaru Constituency’s seat at the People’s Majlis became vacant when Dr. Afrasheem Ali, who represented the Constituency, was brutally murdered on the night of 1st October this year. He was one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in the country as well, and belonged to the PPM. Ibrahim Ameen who is now contesting for the seat on behalf of PPM is the deceased’s brother.