Raajje News Blog

Male', Maldives. A House of Representatives of the people (Parliament) is an integral institution of functional democracies. Finally, yesterday it too fell victim to the mobocracy presently taking over the Maldives. Following the hijacking of Parliament by a small group of MPs, Parliament sessions have been suspended indefinitely. At least, until it is able to proceed without the use of force, the criteria being given by the Parliament Speaker as the reason for suspending it. The reasoning given by the hijackers of the Parliament defies not only logic, but the very essence of democracy. The leader of the group of Maldivians who stopped Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed, Supreme Leader of the Maldives National Democratic Party (MDP) says that the objective is to force Maldives to an early presidential election. Nasheed, who resigned from the post of President on February 7th, claims that he was forced to resign at gunpoint by the military, and has called for his successor to step down ...

Male', Maldives. The public outcry is widespread over yesterday's defeat of democracy by mobocracy as the Maldivian Parliament was hijacked by a small mob of MPs who support Mohamed Nasheed, the titular Supreme Leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). With his hijacking of the democratic institution of the people's representation in governance, the People's Majlis (Parliament), Nasheed has successfully undermined all three powers of democracy, the Executive, the Judiciary and now the Legislature. Nasheed resigned as President of Maldives on February 7th after weeks of continuous public protests against his military arrest of a senior judge, his declaration of all lower courts of justice as invalid, and his actions to restrict fundamental freedoms including freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and media. The hijackers, led by Nasheed's cousin by marriage MP Ibrahim Salih and Nasheed's cousin, MP Eva Abdulla, constituted of a mere 12 out of 77 elected M...