Winds of change in paradise atolls

Opposition candidate Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed on Wednesday was announced the winner of the first multi-party democratic elections in the Maldives, defeating his longtime rival, 30-year incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Born on May 17, 1967, Nasheed was educated in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in maritime studies from Liverpool John Moores University. He was 11 years old when Gayoom first came to power in 1978.

He got his start as a dissident journalist, which quickly ran him afoul of Gayoom’s government. Over his career, he has faced a total of 27 charges and been jailed or banished to a remote atoll for a total of six years. Rights watchdog Amnesty International named him a “prisoner of conscience” in 1996.

Nasheed is popularly known by his nickname Anni, and many in his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) refer to him as their “Nelson Mandela”, a reference to the former South African leader who served decades in jail.

Nasheed was first elected to Parliament in 1999 but lost his seat in 2001 after he was prosecuted for theft on what he said were made-up charges, an assessment many foreign observers and rights groups agreed with.

He formed the MDP while in exile in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom in 2003, a year that saw uncharacteristic riots in the capital Male over the killing of a youth while he was in prison. That prompted a heavy-handed crackdown by state authorities.

In 2004, Nasheed was at the centre of democracy protests that were sparked after he went to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the riots and to press for more reforms. He was arrested and the government declared a state of emergency, which prompted the European Union to threaten sanctions.

Nasheed had promised a mid-term election if he won, and has said that Gayoom will have no part in his administration. Nasheed will inherit a presidency with far fewer powers than Gayoom enjoyed, which is the direct result of his years of agitation for changes in the constitution.

The man who has ousted Asia’s longest-serving leader in the Maldives’ first democratic elections is hailed by supporters as the islands’ own Nelson Mandela.

With a simple promise to change, “Anni” Nasheed forced a run-off of the country’s maiden democratic vote earlier this month with incumbent Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, 71 — and beat him in Tuesday’s run-off.

He said beating Gayoom, who had run the islands unchallenged for 30 years before allowing a democratic vote, would simply be the “icing on the cake.”

“We can’t lose, in fact, we have already won, whatever the result may be,” Nasheed told AFP, referring to his Maldivian Democratic Party’s campaign for reform which brought about this month’s presidential vote.

“If the result is favourable to me, it will just be the icing on the cake,” added the one-time Amnesty International “prisoner of conscience” who was held for three years at the Gaamadu prison by Gayoom in the early 1990s.

With revenge dealt out at the ballot box, Nasheed said his priority now was for “a smooth transition of power.”

Under election laws, he must be inaugurated and assume office by November 11. That will formally end 30 years of rule by Gayoom, who did not allow political parties till 2005.

Nasheed, a father of two young daughters with a degree in maritime engineering, ended his self-imposed exile in London and returned home after Gayoom allowed political parties to be formed for the first time in 2005.

Nasheed said he had been in and out of jail for a period of six years — three of them consecutively — but built the pro-democracy movement with local and international support for change.

Nasheed said his main task would be to sell off state trading enterprises, cut down the size of the Cabinet and turn the 62-million-dollar Gayoom-built presidential palace into the first university of the Maldives.

He said he was inheriting a virtually bankrupt nation and would seek international aid to the tune of US$ 300 million immediately to stabilise an economy dependent on fisheries and tourism and ensure social order.

Nasheed says that despite being arrested, tortured and jailed by the Gayoom administration, he believes the elder politician may still be able to play a role.

“This is not the end of the political career of Gayoom,” Nasheed said. “We should not be vindictive, but allow pluralism to flourish in the Maldives.”

He wants to hold the country’s first multi-party Parliamentary Elections in February.

International human rights groups and the European Union have been nudging Gayoom to allow more democratic freedoms after unprecedented street riots broke out here in 2003 when a prisoner was killed while in custody.

The violence in this traditionally peaceful archipelago jolted Gayoom to agree to reforms.

Defeated presidential candidate Ibrahim Ismail of the Liberal party said Nasheed will have his work cut out for him.

“The expectations are very high,” Ismail told AFP. “It will be a big responsibility to deliver on the reforms he has promised. Otherwise, there could be street protests daily.”

“I look at the outcome with a deep sense of satisfaction,” Ismail said.

“Anni (Nasheed) has a lot of challenges in the coming months. It is tough times ahead for him.”

(Agencies)