While it should be easier to form a party in this day and age, where the Maldives is now accustomed to the term ‘democracy’ and being able to vote for their law-makers and rulers, 15 years later, we are yet again seeing Nasheed and his followers had to go out into the streets to fight for their right.
While democracy might seem like a term that is constantly used in the Maldives, for this small island nation the term democracy is seemingly new. For the Maldives, true democracy was not known until the first multi-party elections in 2008, which was brought by one man’s sheer willpower to change how the Government at the time was ruling the nation.
Though the Maldives had become a republic many years back, with the second President of the second republic ruling for a long period of time, the nation was far from knowing democracy. Back then, people only knew one way of things, and that was the Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom (MAG) way. For 30 long years, the Maldives remained this way, one step closer to democracy and acknowledging the people’s voice, but also taking two steps back every time the country re-elected the same person as the President every five years, as they did not know any better.
Things finally took a major turn around 2004, when the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) started its political activities. Finally bringing a fresh new perspective to the Maldivian political field, the young leader Mohamed Nasheed quickly became popular. This, however, was not solely due to his youthful energy or a fresh new perspective, but it was also due to the brave step he took of promoting political parties - which was necessary for the nation to develop in the right direction. Though many might be unaware, back in the Gayyoom’s regime it was forbidden to form any other political party, however, with determination and a lot of hard work, MDP was formed, bringing in democratic thought process to the Maldives.
Even after the formation of the party, Nasheed and MDP continued to face immense backlash and hardship, only being allowed to run in the Presidential race in 2008 after Gayyoom faced extreme pressure both at home and internationally. And the need for a fresh perspective, a youth leader and democracy was finally truly born in 2008, as the nation picked its choice, and finally, a new leader was born after 30 years of the Gayyoom regime.
Looking back now, this is the impactful history that Nasheed has brought to the nation that many remain unaware of. With the hard work and persistence of MDP, the Maldives has now had 04 different leaders since 2008.
And though a lot has changed in the past 15 years, it appears that history is yet again repeating itself for Nasheed, following the formation of his new political party ‘The Democrats’. Though nobody expected to see Nasheed parting ways with MDP, due to major differences in the viewpoint between the current President and his administration, Nasheed has recently formed his own party, finally saying goodbye to the political party he fought against a 30-year administration for.
While it should be easier to form a party in this day and age, where the Maldives is now accustomed to the term ‘democracy’ and being able to vote for their law-makers and rulers, 15 years later, we are yet again seeing Nasheed and his followers had to go out into the streets to fight for their right to be heard, as freedom of speech, yet again, appears to be taken away from them.
With the inception of The Democrats, after getting more than the number of members needed to legally register the party, The Democrats continued to face setbacks due to the Election Commissions’ (EC)’s decision to push back the approval of the registration of the party. For many, this delay appears to be very clearly backed by political motives, as the elections are upcoming in a few months, and the formation of a new party by the founder of MDP, might cause major difficulties for the current leader of MDP, who is looking to run for a second term in the coming election. This idea is not only being entertained by Nasheed and his loyal followers, but in an interesting turn of events, his previous opponents have also joined Nasheed, though not politically, but in support of the registration of his party, as it is their right to do so.
Though the Election Commission has stated that the forms submitted by The Democrats are valid and have no issues, the commission still pushed back the registration of the party, which not only seems peculiar, but the longer this ruling continues the more people are also starting to second-guess the credibility of the commission which is supposed to take decisions for the favour of the country, not the favour of certain political parties. According to local media, the President of the Commission has stated that the Founder and Co-founder of the commission voted for the formation of the party, however, two other members of the commission have decided to work against this decision, leading to the final outcome.
With the two members who voted against the formation of the party stating that the approvals are being given too fast for political party formation, with the elections coming up it is hard for the majority of the people to take this as a valid reason, as this reasoning did not appear to be an issue in the past when people have registered parties with less members as well. Though the Elections Commission technically has three months to approve or deny the formation of a political party, it is the general consensus that this three-month time period is written into the law in order to have the commission approve the formation of parties sooner rather than later.
As The Democrats, as well as the opposing political parties, have started calling out the Government and the Elections Commission on their corrupt decisions, The Democrats have also stated that they will not stand down until this decision is changed and the formation of the political party is approved.
And so, 15 years later we really are just watching history repeat itself, as the man who changed democracy for the Maldives is yet again going out into the streets calling for his rights, while the Government appears to be taking a decision which only benefits them. So, has Maldives truly discovered the true meaning of democracy since the changes in 2008, or are we yet to discover that real democracy does not step on the opponent in order to bring about the true fight we are all fighting for – so the country needs a leader that is going to bring about the best changes for the whole nation.
