Raajje News Blog

#Maldives: As the Yameen Abdul Gayoom presidency settles in to its third week, signs of discontent are appearing among the government coalition. The new government came to power in a narrow win of 51.39% of a wide coalition of several parties led by Progressive Party of Malives (PPM) against a solitary opposition, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led by former President Mohamed Nasheed. Yameen's narrow victory can in fact be attributed to influential business man Gasim Ibrahim throwing his full weight and that of his party (Jumhooree Party) and coalition partners behind Yameen in the final runoff. Gasim, a candidate himself for Jumhooree Coalition, came third in Round 1 of the elections, with a significant voting block of 48,131 votes (23.35%). Core members of Jumhooree Coalition were Adhaalath Party (AP) and Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP). As the new Government settled into power, cabinet seats and other political appointments were rapidly distributed amongst coalition partners.  Ou...

#Maldives: As PPM's Abdulla Yaameen steps up his attempts to destabilize President Dr. Waheed and his Unity Government, questions arise as to Yaameen's eligibility to lead a coalition government. The past month has seen repeated public criticisms by Yaameen of President Waheed, his government's performance and policies. In addition, Yaameen has claimed each success of Dr. Waheed as a success by PPM. Both the Government and coalition partners have criticized Yaameen's attacks and provided facts to disprove his accusations. President Dr. Waheed yesterday responded to Yaameen's accusations by mildly pointing out that his Unity government was composed of a coalition of parties in which the larger parties such as PPM had larger shares. In addition, he gave factual evidence that Yaameen's accusations of being sold out to foreign states was blatantly untrue. He also called upon coalition partners for unity, saying that "now is not the time for accusations an...

#Maldives: Days before ex-President Nasheed's trial for human rights abuse, international media and countries have stepped up efforts to assist Nasheed to block the trial. While international media such as AFP have reported the trial as a politically motivated, it is in fact a criminal case brought by the country's first independent Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu, for violation of human rights in the military arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court in January this year. The Prosecutor General's case is built upon an independent investigation by the country's Human Rights Commission, an independent institution headed by a 5 member panel appointed by the Parliament. The current Human Rights Commission consists of 5 members nominated to the Parliament by Nasheed himself.  The Report of the HRCM on the investigation of the Judge's arrest and subsequent solitary confinement at a military training camp for 22 days determined the said actions to be blatant ...

Male', Maldives. Day 20 of President Nasheed's hijacking of the Judiciary, and no resolution of the resulting constitutional crisis. Civic protests continue unabated and expand into other urban centres, hundreds arrested, and the police and military brutality reach new heights. Nasheed denies that the Constitution is in force, the Executive claims the whole Judiciary is unconstitutional and the Parliament says it is on holiday and so can't attend to the matter. The talk about town today is a proposed rebirth of the National Unity Alliance (NUA), the very alliance which brought the current dictatorial regime into power. Popular philanthropist Gasim Ibrahim's party, Jumhooree Party (JP) has come tabled a proposal for a National Unity Alliance to other opposition parties, with the proviso of a united single candidate for the Presidency 2013. While no other party has publicly said anything on the proposal, JP report that opposition parties are considering their proposal....

Male', Maldives. In more strong arm measures to intimidate his political opponents, President Nasheed has sent his police officers to Jumhooree (Republican) Party Leader Gasim Ibrahim's resort, Paradise Island. Maldives Police Service officers tonight raided Paradise Island, using as a front the trumped up charges by the Nasheed Government last night that Paradise Island spas were engaging in prostitution services. A Maldives Police Spokesperson tonight confirmed that the police raid was at the request of the Ministry of Tourism, and that police were even now active on Paradise Island. Media report that the Manager of the Paradise Island resort has been summoned to appear at the Police Headquarters. Popular philanthropist Gasim Ibrahim today vehemently denied the Nasheed Government's allegations about his resort spa, stating that "these are heinous lies trumped up by the Government because I have spoken out against them in defense of the judicial system". ...

Male', Maldives. President Nasheed today took retaliatory action against Leader of Jumhooree Party (Republican Party), Gasim Ibrahim. Just hours after Gasim Ibrahim warned President Nasheed that he would not stand aside and watch him destroy the Maldives, Nasheed has ordered the closure of spa facilities at Gasim's resort Paradise Island. Nasheed's closure order was made on trumped up charges of "suspected" prostitution activities at the spa facilities. 'We will not stand aside and allow you to destroy our nation. Do not even think that you can do it", said Gasim last night, speaking on a political analysis program (Fasmanzaru) on independent TV channel VTV. Gasim Ibrahim is one of the most respected businessmen and philanthropist in the country with a strong populist following amongst the citizenry. Gasim Ibrahim was also the Speaker of the last Constitutional Assembly which passed the current Constitution of the Maldives. Gasim's strong cond...

Male' Maldives. As events pan out 24 hours after the biggest civic protest in the history of the Maldives, many wonder whether the organizing coalition of the December 23rd protest could be a serious challenge to Mohamed Nasheed's Presidency. Media estimates that over 20,000 civilians participated in the 8 hour protest at Victory Square, Male', against President Nasheed and his corrupt government. Although prior to the protest, the Civic Protest leaders consistently reiterated that there was no political motivation or objective in the protest, individual leaders made several references to political objectives during their addresses to the thousands of civilians gathered at their call. Speaking to thundering applause by the protesters, Shaikh Ilyas Hussain stated that politics and religion cannot be separated. The very thought of making such a separation is a though to weaken and destabilize religion, he said. Sheikh Ilyas Hussain, a youthful and charismatic orator, is...