London:
The ruling coalition of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People's National Congress (PNC) used anti-India sentiments and attempted to spread disinformation on the issue during the 2023 presidential elections, a European Union report has found .
The European Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to the Maldives published on Tuesday its final report on the two rounds of elections that took place on September 9 and 30 last year.
After an eleven-week observation in the Indian Ocean archipelagic country, at the invitation of national authorities, the EU-EOM concluded that the PPM-PNC coalition's campaign was based on fear of Indian influence in the country .
“EU-EOM observers noted instances of derogatory language directed against the President on the part of the PPM-PNC,” the report said.
“Their campaign included anti-Indian sentiments based on fear of Indian influence and fear of the presence of Indian military personnel in the country. This theme has been the subject of several online disinformation attempts,” the report said.
The EU mission noted that political and campaign fundraising and financial expenditure lack transparency and effective supervision. The EU EOM also identified political bias in the media, including public media, while there were some indications of information manipulation on social media.
“Both camps also ran negative campaigns, suggesting 'halted development and the return of a repressive PPM government' on the one hand, and 'unfulfilled government promises, corruption and foreign intervention' on the other, with accusations of allowing the presence of The Indian Army has repeatedly emphasized this,” their report said.
The then incumbent president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), sought re-election to the country's presidential system of government last year. The PNC's Mohamed Muizzu, backed by the opposition PPM-PNC coalition, defeated him and won the election with 54 percent of the vote.
Chief Observer Nacho Sánchez Amor, Member of the European Parliament, said: “The presidential elections were technically well managed and professionally conducted by the Electoral Commission of the Maldives (ECM).
“The legal framework provides for real elections; the registration of voters and candidates was an inclusive process; and a record number of eight candidates were registered.
“However, women were largely absent from political competition and significantly underrepresented in electoral governance. Other shortcomings in the process included the widely recognized practices of vote buying and the instrumentalization of public office, elements that undermined equality and fairness in the campaigns. .”
The EU EOM report offers 20 recommendations for improving future elections in the Maldives, including fact-checking initiatives to combat disinformation and measures to promote women to more leadership positions in public and political life.
The report comes amid an ongoing controversy with India summoning the Maldives High Commissioner after a row broke out over derogatory messages from three deputy ministers following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lakshwadeep. A spokesperson for the Maldives Foreign Ministry said the comments were personal and did not represent the government's views.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)