Several countries including the United States, India and the European Union (EU) have raised serious doubts over the fairness of the Maldives presidential elections to be held on 23rd September. Bending the rules and abusing state resources, an autocratic President “Abdulla Yameen” is fighting to get himself ‘selected for his second term. He has been accused of series of corruption charges-he has mocked the human rights of the people of the nation, has put every possible contestant in jail or driven them to exile, muzzled the press and has controlled all administrative apparatus to silence his political opponents. The foreign media ( domestic has been terrorized and subdued) has strongly condemned this impropriety. China loves dictators and is not comfortable with true democracies! Ignoring immediate neighbours and their concerns Yameen has sought the support of China just to stay in power by any means.
In the process Yameen has antagonized besides India, the European Union and the United States. The US has been threatening sanctions against the country but what use will it be when China has now another country in this region to be befriended as another “lips and teeth”.
As the presidential election is just a week ahead, the Maldivians will have to choose their presidential candidate wisely keeping their national interest in mind. Their elected candidate must be able to take Maldives out of the debt trap Maldives is beginning to show.
They have to choose between the opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (ibu) a veteran law maker and having a clean image, or the current tyrant Abdulla Yameen.
Full Article: Farcical Elections In Maldives – Analysis – Eurasia Review.