Vice presidential candidate for the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed has said that the Maldives will not see peace through an election with the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate, former president Mohamed Nasheed's name on the ballot.
Speaking at a rally by PPM in Artificial Beach last night, Dr Jameel said that the “society will not be content” with an election with Nasheed’s participation.
Participants of the rally called for the courts to expedite the charges against former president Mohamed Nasheed.
“I would like to tell the Maldivian people, the security forces and the courts, there is no doubt that the Maldives’ [political] atmosphere will not cool down through an election that has Mohamed Nasheed’s name on the ballot paper,” Dr Jameel said
He said that the majority of Maldivians believe that the country will not see peace through an election with Mohamed Nasheed as a contestant as long as the former president carries criminal charges, and that such an election would not be valid.
Dr Jameel said that the illegal detention of Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed is one of the biggest criminal offences the country has ever witnessed and that the judges stalling the case in court must be made accountable. He said that Maldives is rife with crime because their leader still goes unpunished.
“This culture of disobeying the law in the Maldives has spread through of the example set by a leader who committed crimes. It is a grave thing that [former] president Nasheed did while in power. When it was proven through investigations of the police and the Human Rights Commission and the charges raised, when it starts to slow down and stop, the people under him would naturally say that we will do as we wish. Just try to reach me, they will say. The culture has already spread in the Maldives. This is the reason for arson attacks. This is why we see acts of torture,” Dr Jameel said.
He also accused the members of the Elections Commission of aiding MDP to rig the first round of the presidential election.
Speakers of last night’s PPM rally vouched that they will not allow former president Mohamed Nasheed’s name to be included in the next Maldives election, and called for the courts to expedite Nasheed’s case.