ELECTIONS IMMINENT?

The beleaguered Special Majlis (constituent assembly) has for the last three years been inching forward – with a great deal of bickering, admittedly, but nonetheless moving towards setting a date for the country’s first multi-party presidential elections. This week, the government finally set out some potential dates: 9 or 10 August. This despite the fact that the drafting of the constitution is note yet complete. This timeframe would allow for a second round of polls – required by the new constitution if no candidate gets over 50 percent of the votes the first time around – at the end of August. Opposition and independent voices oppose the government’s proposal, however, on the grounds that the dates leave inadequate time to set up independent commissions tasked with ensuring free and fair polls. Nonetheless, with the new constitution stating that the polls must be held by 10 October 2008, and with Ramadan falling between 2 September and 2 October, choices for election dates are limited. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had advocated instituting a caretaker government and delaying the polls, a proposal that has now been defeated. Now, the MDP is alleging that it might not even participate in the elections, which could well mean that the polls, finally announced, are deferred again.