Carnival atmosphere in Male’ as capital prepares for polls
05 Sep 2013, 9:27 PM
Eleanor Johnstone
Votes on Male are divided for Saturday’s presidential election, however ‘Nasheed’ and ‘Yameen’ are the two names on people’s minds as they look forward to a resolution of the 18-month campaign season.
Forty-eight year-old shop owner Ahmed asserts that former president and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Mohamed Nasheed, and Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) candidate Abdulla Yameen, are the two most likely winners of Saturday’s election, but believes that the final decision will be made in a second round.
“The candidates are equal right now,” he said, suggesting that Yameen and Jumhoree Party candidate Gasim Ibrahim had conducted the most effective campaigns “because they have the money… to spend on traveling to the islands.”
To the Maldives’ 350,000 citizens, the four presidential candidates’ personal and political histories are familiar tales. For one middle-aged man surveyed on Majeedhee Magu, the present campaign cannot undo past experiences.
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