Maldives Supreme Court bars jailed former President Yameen from race

The Maldives Supreme Court announced on Sunday that imprisoned former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is prohibited from running in the country’s presidential election in September.

The judgement is another blow for the Maldives’ Progressive Party (PPM), which named Yameen its candidate before his December conviction for corruption and money laundering in connection with bribes from a private enterprise when he was president.

The party this Monday contested the Election Commission’s decision to bar him from running because he is serving an 11-year prison term, claiming the commission misread the constitutional requirements for presidential candidates.

The commission’s decision “that Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is ineligible as he doesn’t meet the conditions stipulated under article 109 is the correct decision,” Justice Husnu Al Suood ruled.

After losing power in 2018, Yameen, the half-brother of former ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, sought a return to the South Asian archipelago. He battled against Indian involvement in the Maldives, which alarmed New Delhi.

The Maldives, located near important maritime lanes in the Indian Ocean, is a focal point of rivalry for regional dominance between India and China.

The Progressive National Congress, the PPM’s coalition partner, has announced it will run a candidate if the Supreme Court rules Yameen ineligible.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is running for re-election despite his Maldivian Democratic Party fracturing in June following a public spat between Solih and another former president, Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed, after losing the party’s presidential primary to Solih, formed a party called The Democrats, which has announced its own candidate.