Global concern as Maldivian court suspends presidential election

The Supreme Court issued an interim order on Monday evening, signed by four of the seven-member bench, halting the election until the court rules on allegations of electoral impropriety filed by third-placed presidential candidate, Gasim Ibrahim.

Gasim is seeking annulment of the first round in which he received 24.07 percent of the vote, alleging that he received at least 20,000 more votes and declaring that “God Willing, Gasim will be President on November 11″.

The Elections Commission has dismissed the credibility of evidence submitted to the court, mostly speculation by anonymised witnesses, and noted that even if factual the claims were insufficient to impact the results of the first round. It has also pointed to unanimous positive assessments of the polling by international election observers.