Neither Gayoom nor Nasheed are democracy-builders: Al Jazeera

“Neither Gayoom nor Nasheed has established himself as a democracy-builder,” reports renowned news agency Al Jazeera.

An article by Will Jordan entitled ‘The Maldives: Mired in presidential intrigue’ describes former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as “an autocrat”, and former President Mohamed Nasheed as “a firebrand”; and says that deficient democratic institutions of the Maldives are “caught in the middle”.

According to Jordan, whether there was a coup in the Maldives or not is “academic”, and what remains are two questions: “Was there a conspiracy to cripple Nasheed’s government? And did Gayoom have a hand in bringing Nasheed down?”

Referring to two points highlighted in a report written by Danish experts upon Nasheed’s request, Jordan says that “the evidence is circumstantial”.

The article, which also refers to the report of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI), says that Gayoom, as an opposition leader, made “life very difficult” for Nasheed while he was President.

It also highlights Nasheed’s activities, such as the arrest of former opposition politician and current Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, and the illegal detention of Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdullah Mohamed.

The article points out that Nasheed’s supporters are protesting on the streets about the findings of the CNI; however, politicians’ attention is already focused on the elections.