Manipulating the Elections Commission

There seems to be some debate in the public domain on the manner in which DRP has come to "own" and "manipulate" to its advantage, the membership of the Elections Commission.

Political Motivation

I feel that the discussion is purposefully engineered for political reasons, and more specifically, to cast doubt and bias over the functioning and decisions of the Commission - simply because, certain nominations put forward by certain parties on certain considerations, were not voted in for the Commission when the time came.

Thirty-day Timeline

Meeting the timeline of 30 days for the formation of the Elections Commission had been one of the primary concerns of the government. This was evident in the remarks I made to the media on the night of the protest at the Presidential Palace over the ratification of the constitution.

If the Commission could not be formed within the 30 day deadline due to the difficulty to get the two third majority clearance for every candidate, there was no plan B. There was no agreement on what should happen next.

Hence the government took it upon itself to ensure that the Commission had to be set up at every cost to ensure the process did not derail, and the country did not plunge into a constitutional void.

Deal on Nominations

The constitution required names to be sent by parties to the parliament. Eight parties sent names for five seats. Naturally candidates of three parties would have to be left out.

The question was how to get the agreement of parliament members to the amount votes needed to pass the two third threshold.

DRP linked to government could not have pulled it off on its own in parliament. DRP dealing with Peoples Alliance, a party owned by ex DRP bosses could not have done it on their own either. MDP with their relatively few members in parliament could not have done it alone by themselves either.

The nearest we could go for two thirds was having an agreement amongst those three parties.

Ibrahim Ismail is a presidential candidate, and a single voice, with just one vote, representing Social Liberals inside the parliament. His agreement meant nothing for the rest.

Republican Party had at least 10 parliamentarians but they could not be said to be the largest opposition to the government. MDP for all purposes would be that opposition. Therefore, outside the parliament, they were still to be formed and organized in a palpable way.

Besides, the Republican parliamentarians had already started sending out express and implicit signals that they had the ultimate control over the process and that their blessing was crucial for any forward movement. Their message was clear, that, they would torpedo anything that did not meet their requirements.

Naturally, a desire was evident amongst rest of the parliamentarians of other key parties to give out an equally strong message that Republicans could be proven wrong.

Seat Allocation

After intense proposals that went back and forth, it was agreed that MDP should be provided with two seats on the Commission. Earlier DRP had asked for two. Reason was that it was the largest faction within the parliament and outside the parliament, and had two other parties aligned with it. The remaining seat was given to IDP to bring in a Republican candidate through an alternative route.

How MDP could be given a second seat to balance power with DRP was the issue. It could be done only if a party supporting DRP could be encouraged to promote a candidate preferably from or at least acceptable to MDP. That was done when Peoples Party promoted the name of an MDP choice.

Hence, the deal was done a day or so ahead of the vote, that People's party would carry the name of Fuad Thiwfeeq acceptable to MDP, in addition to allowing MDP to carry its own candidate Ahmed Shahid. DRP and its ally MSDP floated names of Mohamed Ibrahim and Mohamed Mahir respectively. The name of Ali Faiz, a Republican, but promoted by IDP was the fifth candidate. The package was completed.

Saved in Time

Peoples Alliance was the central force that brought the deal together between DRP and MDP. There is no secret about that. In turn, DRP relied heavily on Peoples Alliance and MDP to collect the necessary votes and form the Commission inside the thirty day period.

Ultimately, the Commission was voted in on the 29th day of the constitutionally imposed deadline of 30 days. The Commission had two chairs aligned to DRP, two chairs aligned to MDP, and one chair aligned to the Republicans.

No Ownership

In this allocation of seats, it is highly creative to suggest that DRP has manipulated the Commission and has owned it de facto. Three of the five seats represent opposition to the government at worst, or neutrality at best.

I am certain that despite the many accusations to the contrary, the Elections Commission would prove its independence, deliver on its expectations, and base their decisions on fair play.

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