A free and fair election is impossible without a free judiciary and Elections Commission (EC), says former Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed.
He said this after EC President Ahmed Shareef’s recent statement saying that the current political environment is conducive to a free and fair presidential election.
In a Twitter post, he said that while Pakistan’s Supreme Court banned its former Prime Minister from politics for life over graft, yet the Maldives’ Chief Justice was jailed for trying to reinstate MPs and releasing political prisoners.
He added that the international community must do more than lip service to restore democracy.
#Pakistan SC bans ex-PM Nawaz for life. Our CJ jailed for allowing MPs to take up seats & releasing pol prisoners. Free/fair election impossible without free judiciary & EC. Intl community must do more than lip service to restore democracy in #Maldives. @USAmbKeshap @JamesDauris
— Mohamed Jameel Ahmed (@MJameelAhmed) April 13, 2018
Dr Jameel was President Abdulla Yameen’s first vice president before being impeached. He now lives abroad in self-exile.
Opposition parties have said that the EC is now incapable of holding a free election, after the recent appointment of Ahmed Shareef as its president. Shareef was once the secretary general of President Yameen’s party People’s Alliance (PA).
