Big Guns Cast Their Vote | Rdquo, President, Said, Vote, Road

Home

News

National News

Big Guns Cast Their Vote

Written by Ajay Makan, on 18-08-2007 12:52

Many of the country’s leading politicians have now cast their votes in the constitutional referendum. President Gayoom cast his vote at Aminiya school at around 11am.

The President told foreign journalists, “it is the right of every citizen to vote today, so I thought as a citizen I should.”

There was scattered applause after he left. But opposition supporters said the president’s motorcade and security detail, which closed off part of Chandanee Magu, were not marks of a normal citizen.

“My lips are sealed,” the President told journalists when asked which way he voted.

Earlier this morning, Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) of the MDP said, “it is very important,” that Maldivians are being given a real choice in an election for the first time.

But after casting his vote, he refused to call the referendum a step on the road to democracy, warning instead of potential government interference.

“For us to be certain we are on a road to anywhere we really have to see what Gayoom will do during the course of this day and soon after the results,” Anni said.

MDP Vice President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki was more positive, saying, “the fact we are having this vote is a sign of hard fought victories for the opposition.

“We have gone past the point of no return on the road to democracy, it is now a question of the speed.”

Foreign Minister Dr Shaheed, who held a crisis meeting with the president on Thursday, voted with his wife at Jamaludin.

Confirming he had voted for a presidential system, Shaheed said, “I strongly support the separation of powers and limited terms.”

The Foreign Minister dismissed Anni’s fears of government interference, and said, “I am more concerned about dirty tricks from the opposition. The government is under a lot of scrutiny at the moment. The opposition is not.”

Shaheed said the referendum is, “an important milestone on the road to democracy.” But he rejected the popular assumption that the vote is a referendum on President Gayoom, arguing, "the MDP will find it harder to put up an individual against President Gayoom than a system."