Geopolitics
Governance/Geopolitics
Is Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) using Bangladeshis to pose as illegal voters?

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 22 Sep 2018, 05:28 am Print

Is Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) using Bangladeshis to pose as illegal voters?

Male: Reports are pouring in that the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) in the Maldives is using Bangladeshi workers to pose as illegal voters in the island nation.

Amid fears of rigging and largescale irregularities, Maldives is going to hold another Presidential election on Sept 23 with the return of President Abdullah Yameen to power almost pre-determined.

"Receiving reports PPM approaching Bangladeshis to pose as voters on Sunday. Preying on their vulnerability as workers here, esp on illegal migrants. PPM has already openly used them, so hoping @MDV_Dhaka can help ensure their citizens do not get caught up in this illegal activity," tweeted  Eva Abdulla, Member of Parliament (MDP), Maldives.

Eva Abdulla belongs to MDP or the Maldivian Democratic Party of the exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed.

The Maldives reels under a political crisis with the regime of President Abdulla Yameen in Feb this year arresting two Supreme Court judges including the Chief Justice, after declaring a 15-day state of emergency.

Present President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom representing Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) is half-brother of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who had ruled the Islamic island nation from 1978 to 2008 uninterruptedly.

Gayoom was defeated in the October 2008 presidential election but in September 2011, he returned as the leader of the newly formed Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Yameen was elected as President in 2013, defeating Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leader and former president Mohamed Nasheed in the 2013 elections.

In 2016, Nasheed was given asylum in the United Kingdom after he was convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Maldives though international rights group like Amnesty International has described the conviction as "politically motivated".