Former President of the Maldives and Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed is facing backlash after he visited the Election Commission's main vote center as it prepared to recount the votes of several ballot boxes.
EC had earlier announced that it would recount 18 ballot boxes to confirm preliminary results starting 1:30pm on Tuesday.
According to EC, officials from opposing Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and their supporters were gathered outside the voting center prior to the commencement of the recount. After Nasheed arrived on the scene, the atmosphere changed and the public expressed their anger at Nasheed's presence. Nasheed was accompanied by Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla and MDP Deputy President of MDP and Minister at the President's Office Mohamed Shifaz, MDP's Chairperson Hassan Latheef and some other MPs representing the party. The police controlled the scene after the unrest grew.
PPM's leadership accuse Nasheed of showing up at the vote center with the intention to create unrest among the public.
A tweet later published by Nasheed said he went to the vote center as PPM's acting leader and other officials went to the EC office and did not come out for a period longer than 30 minutes while EC was preparing to recount the T-4 ballot box. Nasheed said no one should be allowed to enter the premises, and stressed that he remained outside the building.
