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Vote rigging Gayyoom-style
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DO
correspondent
24 December 2004
Major
vote-rigging in the Maldives parliamentary
elections will occur during the delivery of the
ballot boxes to Male' from the atolls, and during
the delays after the boxes arrive in the capital,
claim NSS sources. The rigging has been planned
months in advance.
The plans to deceive the outside world
into thinking the election is fair and democratic
are in play with Commonwealth observers and others
now in the country. Gayyoom is said to be allowing
candidates' delegates to keep watch over the ballot boxes
during voting in atolls and at other times too.
The
main times when fraud is scheduled to occur are:
Transportation
of ballot boxes by air or the NSS coast guard
The recent
exposure by Shuaib of the faulty hinge pins fitted
to the ballot boxes gives an indication of
Gayyoom's blatant rigging methods. Ballots already prepared in
Male' are used by Gayyoom to replace islanders'
votes. The faulty lock makes it easy.
Storage
area in Male'
The Commissioner had stated that in
Male' the ballot boxes' storage area cannot be accessed and they are
sealed with tamper-evident tape. This will be the perfect opportunity to
interfere with the votes because the boxes from both
Male' and the atolls will be placed there. A
tamper-proof tape can easily replaced by the same people who
applied the original tape.
The decision not to count votes in the
islands and atolls allows the mass storage of
ballots and manipulation of results. The election commission hibernates
for years and only operates for short periods
during elections. The comment from the Elections commission
that it will examine vote counting procedures for future elections is not
credible. It should be done now.
This election will be a
masala orchestrated by Gayyoom. He will let
some candidates lose, to show the outside world
how fair the election is. There won't be much rigging of votes in
the Male' constituency. It's expected that Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra)
will win because he is popular, and it's also likely
that votes will be rigged to give the other Male' seat to
Gayyoom's Kamaaluddin.
We can safely assume that fools like Sheereen, Ilyas, Donad, Abdulla
Shahid, Musthafa Luthfee, Maseeh and Abbas will
magically win after intervention from Gayyoom.
Some reformists will be permitted to win e.g. Ibra
etc, but Gayyoom will give his stooges a majority.
Gayoom fears that he may lose power if opposition momentum within the
majlis ultimately costs him the presidency in a no-confidence vote.
The Commissioner must agree to permit delegates
to accompany the delivery of the ballots from atolls and
during storage times. Unless these demands are met,
we cannot assume that this election will be fair
or democratic.
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