Not biased to protect the interests of two particular candidates, says Police

Maldives Police Service has said that they were not biased to protect the interests of two particular candidates when they ceased support for the Elections Commission, for the commission's efforts to conduct the re-run of the presidential election today.

Superintendent of Police Abdulla Navaz made the statement during a press conference after the Elections Commission had cancelled the polling, which was scheduled to start at 7:30 this morning. The commission accused the police of having refused to provide transportation of ballot papers and elections officials to polling station, and had obstructed materials from being taken out of the commission headquarters.

The Police ceased support to the Elections Commission hours before polling, stating that the commission had not fulfilled point number five of the guideline set by the Supreme Court, which states that party candidates must endorse the final voters’ list before going to the polls.

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) candidate Abdulla Yameen and Jumhoory Party candidate Gasim Ibrahim refused to sign the final voters’ list, stating that they had not been allowed enough time to review the list.

Navaz told the press today that the 16-point guideline provided by the Supreme Court must be met and that there is a “definite possibility of unrest” if the elections are held before the 16 points are thoroughly seen through.

“We consider the interests of the people. We do not consider the interests of an individual person, or the interests of two candidates. We consider the country’s interests, the possibility of unrest. An assault that might take place in the country, besides other crimes. These things will definitely happen. You have seen these happen before,” Navaz said.

He said that the decision to cease support to the Elections Commission was made after due consultation with President Dr Mohamed Waheed, the Attorney General, the Acting Minister of Home Affairs and the National Security Council.

He said that the police were also provided a mandate in the Supreme Court verdict and guideline, but said that it was up to the Elections Commission to have dealth the candidates’ refusal to sign the voters’ list. It is not an issue that involved the police, he said.

“We believe that the Supreme Court ruling mandates certain things upon the police as well. So we have to take care of these things. We have considered all this when we tell you that certain things might be very damaging for the future,” Navaz said.