Some members of the campaign team of Mohamed Aslam, who contested for party leadership in main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s leadership election held Friday has raised questions regarding the results of the vote.
While 87,439 people were eligible to vote in the election according to MDP, the interim results announced from 172 ballot boxes counted upto late Friday night show 23,613 people voted in the election. This accounts for 27% of eligible voters.
Only former president and Speaker of the parliament Mohamed Nasheed ran for President of the party. Therefore, a 'Yes-No' vote was taken, with 23,369 people voting to re-elect Nasheed for a second term, while 63 people voted against it.
Minister at the President's Office, Mohamed Shifaz contested against Hithadhoo Uthuru MP Mohamed Aslam for Vice Presidency. Shifaz was elected for a second term as Vice President receiving 13,233 votes while his contender received 9,957 votes.
However, some members of Aslam's campaign team have questioned the results of the election, and are preparing to formally lodge a complaint over issues noted. The campaign team has requested Aslam's supporters to share any concerns they had with the team.
While Shifaz won the election by a large margin, Aslam has not officially congratulated Shifaz for his win thus far.
Some people have also questioned the number of votes received in Nasheed's favour, and that he received against him.
Both Shifaz and Aslam ran strong campaigns prior to the election. While most parliamentarians and loyal supporters of Nasheed backed Aslam, senior government officials and those supporting President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih backed Shifaz.
