Thoughts on a mid term election

One of the more interesting campaign promises made by HEP Nasheed is the promise of a mid term election if he wins. A mid term elections - it was argued would give the people the opportunity to participate in a free and fair elections.

At that time, DRP said on several occasions that a mid term election is unconstitutional although now that the table has turned, I am certain they would strongly advocate for Nasheed to keep to his promise.

First, is a mid term election unconstitutional? Clause 125 of the Constitution specifically provides for a situation where the President and his Vice President resign their positions - in which case it states that an election should be held. Therefore, without going into further details; it is a simple rebuttal for the argument that a mid term election would be unconstitutional.

Second and more importantly should Nasheed call for a mid-term election?

The reason given at that time was that (as mentioned above) - it would give us the opportunity to vote in a free and fair election. It was based on the premise that the October elections would not be free and fair. I think it would be very difficult for anyone to argue now, that the election was in fact not free and fair.

All parties who contested have accepted the results and several observers both local and international have endorsed the election as free and fair. True, there were various issues including missing persons in the voter lists, duplication etc. But I do not believe and neither would any sensible person believe that it would have changed the outcome of the results. During the American elections, we heard news stories of people registering their pets in the voter lists, Obama spelt as Osama in some of the postal ballots and even incidents where cartoon characters were on the list. Nevertheless no one is contesting the validity and the outcome of the election.

My point is that it will be impossible to negate human error. Even with the time that the Elections Commission has to rectify issues with the lists, no doubt there would be issues in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Having said that, I firmly believe that for the most part, the October election was free and fair and any incidents which ever may have happened, would not have changed the outcome of the election.

If we accept that there was a free and fair elections; do we need another mid term election just to 'give the people the opportunity to vote in a free and fair election'?

Further, what we now need is consistency, stability and certainty. I certainly do not want the government to spend another 50 million for another election when it could be spent on projects that are in much need for funds. Also, holding an election would put us all in another spell of uncertainty where business would be less willing to invest and banks less willing to finance. This is something we cannot afford right now.

True, it is a campaign promise that Nasheed made and no doubt some people would have voted for him because of that. But should he do it just because he made the promise or should he do what is best for the country as a whole?

It was widely rumored that one faction of the alliance pushed hard for the election promise. If it is true, they would certainly not be happy if the idea is scrapped. I think Nasheed should take a decision that would benefit the country as a whole rather than do it just because he made a campaign promise.

I for one, would certainly be against a decision to hold mid term elections.