US Issues Concerns about Maldivian Electoral Dismissals

U.S. Concerns on Dismissal of Maldivian Elections Commissioners

Press Statement

Washington, DC

March 10, 2014

The U.S. Government strongly objects to the recent actions of the Maldivian Supreme Court, including trying and convicting members of the Elections Commission, ordering the dismissal of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Commission from their positions, and sentencing the Chair of the Electoral Commission to six months in prison. These actions represent an unprecedented expansion of judicial powers which undermines an independent democratic institution that has made laudable efforts to hold multiple successful elections despite previous judicial interference. The Supreme Court’s insistence on holding parliamentary elections on March 22 while imprisoning the very official responsible for holding those elections calls into serious question the government’s commitment to democracy.

The Maldives are an islands republic of about 400,000 people in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Sri Lanka. The country only instituted competitive multi-party elections in the year 2008.