The Maldives Is Trying to Give Democracy Another Shot

Mohamed Nasheed addresses his supporters.

On Saturday the 7th of September, the people of the Maldives' went to the polls to vote in the country's second democratic presidential election. However, considering the last election in 2008 ended in the first ever democratically elected president being overthrown in an alleged military coup, it's unlikely anyone will be celebrating too prematurely.

Contrary to popular belief, the Maldives isn't the simple paradise that Thomas Cook billboards and Discovery Channel sea life documentaries would have you believe. It's actually a large, complicated network of islands off the Indian coast that's really difficult to access, even more difficult to govern and seemingly impossible to foster any kind of democracy in.

Abdul Gayoom, the country's former autocrat and proud owner of a horrific human rights record, recently managed to win the country's highest honour, which might give you an idea of just how different the islands are to all the photos you've seen of blissful hotel huts jutting out of blue curaçao water.

The two frontrunners in this year's election are ousted ex-president Mohamed Nasheed and Gayoom's younger brother, Abdulla Yameen. In the first round of voting, the two candidates picked up 45 percent and 25 percent of the national vote, respectively.

Nasheed was voted into office in the country's first ever democratic election in 2008 after previously being locked up as a political prisoner during Gayoom's reign. While incarcerated, he witnessed widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by prison officers – an account backed up by a 2012 human rights report that details, "torture and ill-treatment [being] considered accepted forms of interrogation" – which spurred him into forming the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on his release.

After leading his party to victory, his presidency was short-lived; the MDP's spokesperson Hamid Abdulla Gafoor explained, “In February of 2012, Nasheed was forced to step down by a military coup. Soldiers and police loyal to the former regime entered the presidential buildings and told him to voluntarily resign or face violence.” Nasheed complied, stating, "I am not a person who wishes to rule with the use of force.” He was then charged, ironically, with carrying out human rights violations during his time in power.

Only, instead of torturing prisoners, like Gayoom, the violations levelled at Nasheed were that he had breached international criminal conventions by imprisoning a judge without due legal process. That judge was Abdulla Mohamed, who had been on Gayoom's cabinet and, according to Gafoor, had "repeatedly released members of the opposition who had committed various crimes in the previous regime".

By September of 2012, Nasheed was put on trial, facing either three years in jail or banishment. Crucially, he was banned from leaving the Maldivian capital Malé, preventing him from campaigning for the next elections. A protest was organised by followers of the MDP party, but police dispersed them with batons and pepper spray, a reaction that Amnesty were quick to denounce as an "outright human rights violation".

But now, after his trial for the "abduction" of Judge Mohamed was stalled at the high court level, Nasheed is back in the presidential race. Although he beat Yameen, the former autocrat's brother, by a considerable margin in the polls earlier this month, neither reached the 50 percent mark needed to become president. The two highest ranking candidates will now go head-to-head in a run-off to become president, determined by a vote this Saturday the 28th.

MDP supporters campaigning in Malé, the capital of the Maldives.

When I called MDP spokesman Hamid Abdulla Gafoor again to discuss the second round of voting, he told me that I was lucky to have got through to him. "I'm being prosecuted in two days for alcohol possession and drinking," he told me. "I’ve never been to court before and I’ll have an AK-47 pointed at me."

The majority of the Maldivian population are Muslim and their judicial system is based on Sharia law, meaning alcohol is nominally banned in the country. That said, it's not hard to have a quiet drink among friends without getting caught – unless you're running for election against one of Gayoom's friends, in which case you should be prepared to be caught and defend yourself in a politically motivated court case.

As Gafoor told me, "You know, a third of MDP politicians have a case against them during the elections – a third; it’s just utterly ridiculous." Continuing, he told me how his case – which, conveniently for Abdulla Yameen, falls right in the middle of the election race – had come to court: "I was having a meeting and the police came over to the island. They knew we were there, it was all premeditated. They put a bag over our heads and pushed us into the sand. They then started to kick us like a footballs. Later, they took the bags off and I saw my friend – a man who must be over 60 years old – beaten until he was so bruised and swollen that I thought he was going to die. I’m scared for my life, even now. They took pictures and videos of us with the alcohol and gave it to the media. They wanted to defame us."

Protests following the alleged coup of February, 2012.

Accusations aren't only being made from Nasheed's camp; Yameen's spokesperson Ahmed Maloof told me, "We don't think that the elections were fair, so we'll be taking the issue to the courts." This claim, however, is despite NGOs such as Transparency Maldives (TM) monitoring the election procedures and reporting no evidence of election fraud. TM’s spokesperson commented, “We ask that all actors refrain from undermining the integrity of election day process without evidence," but Nasheed’s opposition continues to question the results anyway.

Besides the smear campaigns and allegations of voting fraud, the most worrying prospect to tar the elections is that the Maldives' judiciary – which is backed by old allies of Gayoom – could overturn a win from Nasheed. "The courts and judicial system have a longstanding legacy of impunity and corruption," says Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Maldives expert, and many of the present judges served under the old regime.

There is dismay among MDP politicians for the lack of international concern over the Maldives’ democratic transition. Despite figures like David Cameron calling Nasheed his “new best friend”, he didn't exactly rush to help when the MDP leader was ousted in 2012. Gafoor elaborated: “We are alone here, playing a game where we're fighting the referee as well as the opposition."

This Saturday will be a telling moment in Maldivian history – a chance for democracy to conquer the old, corrupt power structure that has dominated the Maldives for so long. And despite all that's happened, there seems to be a strong public will for free and fair elections. Bearing that in mind, Gafoor told me that he is hopeful Nasheed will win: "When the tide has turned, it’s very hard to swim against it."

Follow Philippa on Twitter: @PipBaines13

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