Elections Commission has blocked formation of new democratic party, “The Democrats”.
Former President Nasheed’s branch within the MDP has left the party and decided to form a new party called ‘The Democrats’ and they have been trying to register and run the party as soon as possible.
Democrats leadership has already collected required 3,000 signatures to register a new party. However, Elections Commission has still not registered the party.
Questioning the speed of the process, Democrats supporters and leadership went to the commission yesterday and refused to leave the building until they get an answer. Commission then took a vote to make a decision. President of Elections Commission Mr. Fuad Thawfeeq said, 4 out of the 5 members participated in the vote, 2 voted for and 2 voted against registering the Democrats.
Democrats leaders suspect two voting against them were under influence of the Government, and deliberately blocking the party to register and start their work. However, they informed that they need more time to check the facts before registering a party. The constitution allows EC three months to check all the facts.
Those who voted against were commissioner Ali Nashaath and member Mohamed Asif, while Fuad and Deputy Ismail Habeeb voted for registering the party.
