Maldives’ Yameen seeks 2nd term amid poll rigging fears
Before poll opened, cops raided Opp. MDP party’s office
Colombo, Sept. 23: President Abdulla Yameen cast his ballot on Sunday in a controversial election in the Maldives just hours after police raided the Opposition’s campaign headquarters, fuelling fears the vote has been rigged in the China-friendly strongman’s favour.
Mr Yameen is expected to retain power and has imprisoned or forced into exile almost all his main rivals in a crackdown his critics say is returning the honeymoon island nation to authoritarian rule.
The process is being closely watched by regional rivals India and China, who are jostling to influence Indian Ocean nations. The European Union and United States, meanwhile, have threatened sanctions if the vote is not free and fair.
Yameen voted minutes after polling booths opened in the capital Male, where Opposition campaign efforts had been frustrated by a media crackdown and police harassment.
Before polls opened, police raided the campaign headquarters of the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party ( MDP) and searched the building for several hours in a bid to stop what they called “illegal activities”. There were no arrests.
Mr Yameen’s challenger, the relatively unknown Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, also cast his vote.
Mr Solih has the backing of a united Opposition trying to oust Mr Yameen but struggled for visibility with the electorate because the media is fearful of falling foul of heavy- handed decrees and reporting restrictions.
Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected President of a n e w l y - d e m o c r a t i c Maldives in 2008 but now lives in exile, urged the international community to reject the results of the election.
There were long queues in Male and at embassies abroad, where the Opposition had urged Maldivians to turn out and vote.
Only a handful of foreign media have been allowed in.
The Asian Network for Free Elections, a foreign monitoring group that was denied access to the Maldives, said the campaign was heavily tilted in favour of the 59- year- old Yameen.
The government has used “vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics”, some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.