The Maldivian Democratic Party on Sunday announced preliminary results of its leadership election despite several complaints from losing candidate Mohamed Aslam.
In nationwide polls on Friday afternoon, President’s Office Minister Mohamed Shifaz was re-elected as MDP vice president with 13,815 votes against MP Aslam’s 10,840 votes. There were 447 invalid votes.
The veteran lawmaker challenged the results on Sunday and declared that he does not accept the outcome.
“My rights as a candidate were violated at the poll held to elect the leadership of the MDP. I have lodged a complaint highlighting main 11 points and have informed the party that I reject the results,” the MP for Hithadhoo North tweeted.
Aslam did not reveal the nature of his complaints and said he “will share the information with the media when the time is right.”
The MDP’s election committee said it announced provisional results on Sunday night after responding to Aslam’s complaints.
“We have explained in writing what happened regarding the 11 complaints he submitted before releasing the preliminary results,” MDP Secretary General Anas Abduh Sattar told Mihaaru.
Some 25,100 people voted in the internal election, which represented 25 percent of 87,439 members eligible to vote.
As the sole candidate, Speaker Mohamed Nasheed was re-elected with 24,202 votes. Some 421 members voted against the former president and there were 479 invalid votes.
Hitting back at opposition criticism over the relatively low turnout, Nasheed told reporters on Saturday morning that the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives could not draw even 200 voters for an internal election. The MDP’s voters were active members of the party, he said, expressing satisfaction with the turnout.
“In developed countries the total membership of political parties will be seven percent of the voting population. The 25,000 people who actively work to win elections for this party remain unchanged,” he said.
