Voting at DRP congress was rigged at island-level, claims formative party member
17 Mar 2010, 12:06 AM
Delegates travelling to Male’ to vote in the third congress of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) “were bought before they even got here”, claimed Dr Faathin Hameed, one of the DRP’s formative members and niece of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the party’s Honorary Leader.
Faathin alleged the elections held during the party’s congress “were not free and fair”, because the island-level elections of delegates were compromised by vested interests.
“There were a lot of complaints from the islands lodged directly at the DRP office,” Faathin said. “I made a point of writing to the committee in charge of the congress, headed by the [Parliamentary] Speaker Abdulla Shahid, reporting the complaints I was receiving and requesting action in order to ensure a transparent, free and fair democratic process.”
Members complained they were deliberately excluded from participating in island-level meetings, that island-level meetings were not announced or held in secrecy, that agendas were not announced in advance and that candidates were not given the opportunity to put themselves forward. There were also disputes over vote counting.
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