Maldives set for first multi-party election
The Maldives is to hold its first multi-party presidential election next month as part of sweeping political reforms in the Sunni Muslim nation, a minister said yesterday.
The tourist paradise is due to hold a national vote to elect a new president for a five-year term under the constitution ratified in August, legal reforms minister Mohamed Nasheed told AFP by telephone from Male.
"Elections will be before October 10," Nasheed said.
An exact date is yet to be fixed.
Political parties were recognised in 2005 when President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving ruler, launched reforms after pro-democracy protests. Gayoom, 70, has been in power since 1978.
It was previously illegal for anyone to offer himself as a candidate for the presidency. A candidate instead had to be selected by the 50-member Majlis, or national parliament.
Eight members of the Majlis were appointees of the incumbent president.
The candidate chosen by the parliament had to then go before the 370,000-strong electorate and win a "yes" vote at a referendum.
The new constitution also creates independent bodies for the judiciary, police, defence and corruption investigations.
Nasheed said a new elections commissioner and prosecutor general were appointed last week, while a general electoral bill and a bill on presidential elections were before parliament.
Currently, there are 12 political parties registered in the country.
The presidential election bill sets out a 30-day campaign period ahead of the poll.
Gayoom has said he wanted to contest the country's first multi-party polls, which looked likely to be challenged by at least eight others, including two former ministers.
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