Can only determine legitimacy of the election 'after ballots are counted', says opposition lawmaker

Hithadhoo-South constituency MP Ali Nizar has said that “there is no hope” for a free and fair presidential election.

He said this on RaajjeTV’s ‘Fala Surukhee’ programme on Saturday night, where he noted that incumbent President Abdulla Yameen’s actions in the past five years show otherwise and that the government has failed to earn the people’s trust.

He added that he will only determine the legitimacy of the election “after the ballots are counted”.

The lawmaker further noted that the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s election predictions “are wrong”, especially given the fact that he has not gone to the people.

Last week, PPM’s parliamentary group leader Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik had said that President Yameen will win this year’s presidential election “with 52 per cent of the votes”, while his current defence minister Adam Shareef predicted that he will get a whopping 60 per cent.

Noting that the incumbent president had not done much campaigning for the 2013 presidential elections, MP Nizar said that he expects it to be the same this time around as well. He added that it was his half-brother and the country’s former long-standing president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom along with his then running mate and first vice president- there has been two since- that had campaigned for him in 2013. Jameel is currently in self-exile in the United Kingdom while former President Gayoom, 80, was recently sentenced to 19 months in jail for obstruction of justice.