Report in SCMP, Nov 27, 2018 The Maldives’ new finance minister said on Monday that China is executing infrastructure projects at vastly higher prices than originally proposed but that there is little the island nation can do about it. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration, which took office this month, is reviewing contracts awarded by his predecessor Abdulla Yameen. Most went to Chinese firms and are feared to have left the country in debt. During a…
Posts published in “Maldives”
Report in Maldives Times online, Sept 28, 2018 Security forces in the Maldives have said that they will uphold the shock result of the presidential election, foiling an apparent attempt by the defeated president Abdulla Yameen to cling to power. Despite conceding defeat to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Mr Yameen and his party launched a series of manoeuvres late yesterday seemingly in an effort to overturn the result. The scheme led to fears of a coup…
by Alyssa Ayres in CFR BLOGS, Sept 24, 2018 On Sunday, September 23, citizens of the Maldives stood in long lines (up to six hours according to one report) to vote in its presidential election. In a result that was not even close, opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih received more than 58 percent of the vote and sent the authoritarian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom packing. This outcome, as several analysts have already remarked, marks…
report in South China Morning Post, Sept 23, 2018 Back when he was a mild-mannered civil servant, few in the Maldives predicted Abdulla Yameen would one day run the country, let alone with an iron grip, locking up judges, his rivals and even his 80-year-old half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Now, five years after skilfully manoeuvring his way to the top, the 59-year-old is on the cusp of being elected to a second five-year term running…
report in South China Morning Post, Sept 23, 2018 Police in the Maldives said they raided the main campaign office of the opposition presidential candidate on Saturday, the eve of an election viewed as a referendum on whether democracy will survive in the country. Police spokesman Ahmed Shifan said police raided Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s campaign office late in the day. He did not give any other details. The move is a sign of a government…
By Michael Safi in The Guardian, Sept 21, 2018 The Maldives will hold presidential elections on Sunday amid warnings the Indian Ocean archipelago is reverting back to the authoritarian rule it threw off in a democratic spring a decade ago. Opposition parties from across Maldivian politics have formed a united front to oust the president, Abdulla Yameen, whose government has been accused of crushing dissent, corruption and jailing electoral opponents on flimsy grounds. Yameen is…