Member of Parliament for North-Mahchangoalhi constituency Mariya Didi has condemned the authorities attempts to hinder the elections and campaign activities of political parties.
Speaking in RaajjeTV's "Local News" on Wednesday evening, the MP said responding to a question posed by the station following the Civil Court issuing an order to halt main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s primary held on Wednesday afternoon reportedly after the Attorney General's request, Mariya said, they [speaking on behalf of the party] do not believe that the authorities can meddle in a party's internal activities. She said that there is no legal justification for authorities meddling in internal matters of parties.
"We will do party activities as per party rules and regulations. If it is up to us, if you want to participate in the primaries for us through our own procedures which we as members have decided, to choose our own candidate, the constitution, the laws, gives us the freedom of choice and we by ourselves determine the laws that we bind to. However we find that this is not the case" said the MP.
She further said that in the parliament, the orders are made by the members of parliament themselves however, the government has refused to bow down to the law and they are currently just making their own rules adding that it has gone to this "ridiculous state" where they come into the party offices and at their will, seize party properties.
Mariya said that the usual case which calls for officers to enter the MDP campaign sites, calls for a court order that permits them to enter the property, saying that before President Yameen came into power they used to bring court orders to enter party premises. The MP went on to say that now they do not bother about a court order because court orders have also become "irrelevant."
“Like today as you say, the Attorney General is supposed to have requested for a court order at the civil court where they issued a court order for a “Maldives democratic party”. Law is very pedantic. There is no party in the world that’s called the Maldives Democratic Party. We are the Maldivian Democratic party. So the court order, was for a Maldives democratic party, god knows what that party is and the police are in such a rush to enforce this judgment that without properly looking into the order they go into our property" said Mariya.
Mariya highlighted that the court order did not give police the authority to confiscate ballot boxes and that it was an injunction to halt the election until they look into the matter further.
“I do not understand how the Civil Court can even get involved in this. It is a party internal matter. But I find that even with PPM, when President Gayoom was the leader of that party and he was administering the party with their own articles of association, the PPM went to court, the court has no role in it, they are talking about their committees and things like this, party internal matters are things that need to be looked into by the party itself. PPM went to the court and their honorary advisor has been given the party, just so happens to be President Yameen.” the MP said.
The MP went on to say that the police are running this country by conspiring with President Yameen and acting out of the constitution and the law. They are bringing the country into a state where President Yameen is allowed to make a mockery out of this state. Mariya scoffed that “it is a joke. It doesn’t feel like a state anymore.”
Mariya, highlighting that MDP is also like a family, shed light on how they have their own members, determine how they should be run, govern themselves, have their own committees which will look into matters like the internal elections. Mariya said that there is absolutely no reason and even the law doesn’t state any rule for the Elections Commission to get involved.
“It’s a pity that Mr.Shareef (Elections commissioner) has still not been able to take off from himself that white t-shirt he was wearing that said “Yameen 2018”. He is still wearing that t-shirt and is still acting as President Yameen’s campaign manager” Mariya said.
Following the police seizing ballot boxes from polling stations in capital city Male' and several outlying islands, Mariya said that they won't be able to seize ballot boxes from abroad, "it is not enforceable,"
After the police had seized ballot boxes, members of the opposition were then seeing casting their votes in things such as hollow tins and empty cans following which Mariya had said that there is no such law that states that votes must be cast in a ballot box
"Right this moment there are people casting their votes into bins and such because they want to show that they are with President Nasheed and they want Nasheed to be their primary candidate." said the MP.
Mariya further stressed on the actions of the police during the ballots held this afternoon, saying that when police carry out such actions they need to remember that they wear a uniform which they must take pride in, They must be reminded that they wear it to protect and serve the people of the country
"I don't know how they have the courage to come into people's property under [President] Yameen's orders. You have to show the order to the owner of the property. I don't know how they can confiscate ballot boxes in the MDP premises under a court order issued for the "Maldives Democratic Party". I don't think any officer of the government thinks they are answerable to the law anymore that they will be held accountable on some day, they just do whatever without thinking. They should learn from the consequences seen from people like former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, how he is being treated in jail. Just because they did what they were instructed to do without really thinking of the consequences of their acts." said Mariya.
When asked if the rumors of members being able to vote online or via SMS, Mariya responded that these are misconceptions, that they believe in physical voting. Although police have taken ballot boxes, there are still bins and paper boxes that are being used for polling. Mariya said that it does not matter if it is "in a pail" and that votes are not something you write on a paper, voters can do it however they wish and that it is entirely upto the MDP how they conduct their own elections and how they come up with the primary ballots.
Mariya also said that she condemns Maldives Broadcasting Commission for talking about halting RaajjeTV's broadcast if it shows content relating to President Nasheed.
Vice President at Broadcom, Ahmed Sofwan sent an SMS to RaajjeTV on Wednesday during the primary election, saying that the live coverage of the election was illegal.
Albeit Police confiscating ballot boxes, voting continued in ice boxes and cement mixers, with Nasheed's campaign manager had revealed that around 15,000 members of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had voted in the party's primary election by 04:30 p.m on Wednesday. While voting closed on 12:00 a.m, the final count will be announced at 02:30 a.m on Thursday.
