After conceding defeat in the contentious presidential election & making way for the joint opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the outgoing Maldives President Abdullah Yameen is using every trick in the book to extend his president reign. According to reports, he has discredited the poll results now and has refused to acknowledge Solih’s candidature for president’s position.
On Wednesday, Yameen’s party, PPM, passed a resolution that they would not accept Ibrahim Solih as the new president. According to local reports, PPM resolution against Solih was passed quickly on Tuesday night with just a handful of members in attendance. When asked why the resolution was passed with such a few people, Ibrahim Muaz Ali, Yameen’s spokesperson said that these were the only people willing to face media to speak for their rights.
According to a report by Al-Jazeera, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), anti-money laundering body of the Maldives has said, “Yameen received 22.5 million Maldivian rupiahs ($1.5 million) in hard currency days in advance of a contentious presidential election”. The report quoted the letter saying “president received the money in two instalments to a private bank account at the Maldives Islamic Bank”. The police have been briefed about the incident.
“When the bank asked about the source of the money and its use, the bank was told the money was donations from private companies and various others to be used in the 2018 presidential elections,” the report further stated, without specifying who spoke on behalf of the president. If these corruption charges are proved true, it might well backfire Yameen’s attempts to continue being in power. With the new government just a month away, Yameen might find defending his stake at presidential position increasingly difficult.
But it is being expected that, in the next few weeks, Yasmeen will use every possible trick at his disposal to sabotage the political situation in the Maldives. This could include violent clashes, which might give him a semblance of legitimacy in reimposing emergency in the Maldives & continuing with his reign.
However, Solih’s victory has been welcomed by a host of nations such as the USA, India, UK & other global powers. This will make it difficult for Yasmeen to overtly employ his machinations for remaining in power. It will be interesting to see how India & other concerned nations react to this political turmoil unfolding in the Indian Ocean Island State.
