High Court accepts case challenging Meedhoo election results
The High Court has accepted a legal challenge filed by the People’s National Congress (PNC) regarding the Dhaal Meedhoo Council presidential election, where the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) candidate was declared the winner following a recount. Although the initial tally resulted in a tie between the two candidates, a subsequent recount led to the invalidation of one PNC vote, handing the seat to the MDA by a single-vote margin.
During the vote counting process for the local council elections held last Saturday | Elections Commission
The High Court of the Maldives has accepted a case regarding the vote counts of the PNC and MDA candidates who contested for the presidency of the Dhaalu Meedhoo Island Council.
The candidate from the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) has secured the presidency of the Dhaal Meedhoo Island Council following a recount of the island's second ballot box. The recount was initiated after an initial tie between the MDA candidate and the candidate from the People’s National Congress (PNC). During the process, one vote previously cast for the PNC candidate was declared invalid, confirming the victory for the MDA.
Suha Ibrahim of the PNC and Mohamed Shahid of the MDA, both candidates for the presidency of the Meedhoo Council, were initially tied with 392 votes each. However, following a recount of the Meedhoo No. 2 ballot box, one of Suha’s votes was declared invalid, reducing her total to 391.
With that, Shahid secured the position of Council President by a margin of just one vote.
The recount of the Meedhoo constituency's number two ballot box was triggered after a fraudulent vote cast for the PNC candidate was invalidated, resulting in a tie.
Consequently, the PNC candidate has filed an appeal with the High Court. The court has since registered and accepted the case for review.
The People's National Congress (PNC) has secured two seats on the Dhaalu Meedhoo Council and one seat on the Women's Development Committee (WDC). Meanwhile, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) managed to win one seat on the WDC.
In the local council elections, candidates from the MDP secured the presidency in the majority of councils. Furthermore, the party won the mayoral seats in all five of the country's cities, while also maintaining a majority in the city councils.
The government has faced another setback in the referendum held to determine public opinion on aligning the parliamentary and presidential elections. Of those who cast their ballots, 68 percent voted against the proposal to hold both elections simultaneously. Despite the government’s extensive campaigning to merge the two elections, many observers suggest that the outcome clearly reflects widespread public dissatisfaction with the administration's policies.
