Report: Soodh
Many members of the People's Special Majlis have blamed the 11 member committee elected by the Majlis to oversee the 18 August referendum for not responding to the various complaints and problem which have been reported to the committee during the vote. They said because of these unanswered problems there is a great sense of doubt and mistrust among a large number of people. Members said so during a heated and emotional debate the Majlis had last night in response to a motion filed by 25 members of the Majlis.The motion was proposed by Laamu member Moosa Maniku who said there have been large numbers of complaints and problems registered regarding many irregularities in the various process of the referendum. These matters were reported to the chair of the 11 member committee Vaavu member Moosa Nizar and the Commissioner of Elections K D Ahmed Maniku and none of them has responded to any of these matters. They said they were very concerned about these irregularities which were not attended to by the 11 member committee as stipulated in the referendum regulation. They reminded that the 11 member committee was entrusted with a great responsibility and authority to oversee the entire process of the referendum and to give directions to the Commissioner of Elections to ensure that the vote was taken according to the regulation in a free and fair manner. But because of the large number of irregularities and related complaints, a lot of people have doubts about the validity of the vote, they said.
Several members blamed the chair of the committee for not attending to these matters in time and for failing to give clear directions to the Commissioner of Elections to carry out the referendum strictly according to the regulation in order to win the confidence of the people regardless of what system the people have chosen. They said they will respect the verdict of the people and will respect the result if the committee and commissioner have enforced the provisions of the regulation. Some members said the chair of the committee made his own decisions without a majority approval or opinion from the committee as provided in the regulation. Few members went to the extent of blaming Speaker Gasim Ibrahim for failing to take responsibility in this important task but for many it was the chair of the committee who disregarded other members and made his own decisions including signing the referendum result sheet without the approval of the committee. A few members said there should not be any stone unturned to dispel the doubts and suspicions of a large number of people however lengthy and difficult the task may be.
Some members said that the vote was very fair and valid and one will win and the other will loose elections and competitions. It is democracy to respect the decision of the people and it is not fair to blame others for failures, they said. These members said that it is not in the spirit of democracy to reject a large majority and such a rejection reflect lack of respect and trust to the people who make these decisions.
The debate continued till the end of the meeting. Speaker Gasim has announced the debate would resume on 2 September.
In the 18 August referendum presidential system supported by ruling DRP has won a landslide majority of votes while parliamentary system supported by opposition MDP received only 38 percent of the votes. MDP has rejected the vote and alleged the vote was highly rigged. But Human Rights Commission of Maldives who observed the referendum in some locations said although there were many administrative lapses the votes was valid. Elections Commissioner K D Ahmed Maniku also declared final official results Tuesday.
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