Report: No outright majority in Maldives election

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The party of the Maldives' dissident-turned-president has likely won the most seats in the country's first multiparty legislative elections, but not enough for an outright majority, according to preliminary results cited by a news report. Any result for President Mohamad Nasheed shy of the 39 seats needed for a majority in the 77-seat legislature would mean his administration would have to rely on independent and minor-party lawmakers to pass its legislative agenda. But Nasheed, the former political prisoner who ended the 30-year rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom last year in the Indian Ocean archipelago's first multiparty presidential election, would remain in charge of the government, appointing the Cabinet. Preliminary results from the Elections Commission released Sunday showed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party projected to win 31 seats, according to the www.minivannews.com Web site. Gayoom's Maldives People's Party was expected to secure 24 seats, the Web site said.