MALDIVES: CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSAL TO DISQUALIFY

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 001588 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/15/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM MV SUBJECT: MALDIVES: CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSAL TO DISQUALIFY OPPOSITION CANDIDATE WITHDRAWN Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James R. Moore. Reasons: 1.4(b, d). ¶1. (SBU) On November 24, pro-government members of the Special Majlis (constituent assembly charged with drafting a new constitution) put forward two proposed changes which would effectively bar former Attorney General Hassan Saeed from running in the country's first multi-candidate Presidential election expected in 2008. The amendments would raise the minimum age for candidates from 35 to 40 (Saeed is 37) and disqualify anyone with a foreign spouse (Saeed's wife is a Malaysian Muslim). Saeed broke with the government in August 2007, resigning as Attorney General, and has since declared his independent candidacy for the job President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has held for the last 29 years. Saeed and his political partner, former Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed, have not yet announced whether they plan to convert their "New Maldives" group, the former reform wing of the ruling DRP, into a separate political party. ¶2. (SBU) Opposition parties, including the main opposition Maldives Democratic Party, which is considering backing Saeed for President, immediately rang alarm bells, alleging that Gayoom was trying to manipulate the constitutional drafting process to knock his principal opponent out of the running. ¶3. (C) Ambassador contacted Deputy Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon (the President's daughter) and Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid, who was representing President Gayoom at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala. Ambassador noted that "President Gayoom and the DRP have made great progress in working with other parties to reform the Constitution according to the timetable laid out by the President. Such moves would call into question the President's sincerity in seeking truly free and fair elections." The Ambassador requested further information. ¶4. (C) Deputy Dunya Maumoon's initial response was "... the government is committed to reform and definitely would not want to bring in amendments that would seek to block the candidature of any particular individual." Foreign Minister Shahid, calling from Kampala, told Ambassador he thought the one raising the minimum age would be withdrawn. However, he was not sure about the foreign spouse provision, since there was concern among religious conservatives in Maldives that someone married to a Christian or Jew might become President. Still, he assured Ambassador that the ruling party representatives to the constituent assembly would be free to vote their conscience. ¶5. (SBU) Hassan Saeed noted in a press conference on November 25 that Commonwealth Secretary General McKinnon had "expressed serious concerns on the attempt at technical disqualification" to Foreign Minister Shahid in Kampala. He also noted that the U.S. had expressed concern. He reportedly threatened further diplomatic interventions by the British Foreign Minister and the European Union. ¶6. (C) Hours later, senior DRP members announced that the DRP was withdrawing the amendments. Dunya Maumoon informed Ambassador and DCM in a e-mail stating, "The amendment relating to the bar on head of state with a foreign spouse has been withdrawn... DRP leadership is not supportive of such a proposal. DRP is also not proposing to increase age bar to 40 as alleged. It is unfortunate that a lot of misinformation is being spread." Former Foregn Minister Shaheed contacted Ambassador afterwads to thank him for his "very prompt action over the Government's attempt to disqualify Hassan's candidature." ¶7. (C) COMMENT: A move to disqualify Gayoom's most credible challenger in the Presidential election would have had negative repercussions on the reform process and the political climate generally in Maldives, possibly giving fresh impetus to the Muslim extremists who are, in any case, wary of Western-style democracy. Fortunately, supporters of the two ill-considered amendments backed away from their proposals before any real damage was done. We did not think it helpful for Saeed to call attention publicly to our private overtures asking the government to reconsider, however, and will let him and his supporters know at the next opportunity that such publicity can only make it more difficult for us to help in the future. MOORE