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October 21, 2013

Maldives: Police Block Voting in Rescheduled Presidential Election 
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In the Maldives, police blocked voting in the country's rescheduled
presidential election Saturday, claiming some candidates had not
approved the voter rolls. Election officials said police surrounded
their offices in the capital, Male, preventing the vote. Former
president and environmental advocate Mohamed Nasheed won the largest
number of votes in an election earlier this month, but the Supreme Court
rejected the results after another candidate claimed electoral fraud.
International monitors called the election free and fair. On Sunday,
Nasheed, who was ousted last year in what he described as a coup at
gunpoint, called on current President Mohammed Waheed Hassan to resign.

Mohamed Nasheed: "We believe that the only prudent way forward and a
possible solution for the situation would be for today Dr. Waheed to
resign and the speaker of the Parliament to take over government until
November 11, which is just a few weeks, but for elections to be held
under his tenure and not under the unelected or unrepresentative rule of
Dr. Waheed."

 

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