US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1016

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, MV, Maldives 
SUBJECT: MALDIVES:  THREE PARTIES PRE-REGISTER 
 
REF: COLOMBO 0997 
 
1.  (U) On June 5 the Home Ministry approved applications 
from three groups to begin the work needed to register as 
political parties. The three groups included the Dhivehi 
Raiyithunge Party (Malidivian People's Party), founded by 
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom; the Dhivehi Raiyithunge 
Democratic Party (Maldivian People's Democratic Party), also 
known as the Maldivian Democratic Party, headed by erstwhile 
detainee Mohamad Nasheed; and the Islamic Democratic Party, 
headed by Umar Naseer.  As the first step in the 
pre-registration process, the proto-parties were required to 
submit a petition with the signatures of at least 50 
supporters.  (Gayoom's party turned in over 200 signatures, 
according to Presidential Spokesman Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, 
including, not surprisingly, Cabinet ministers and many 
members of the People's Majlis.)  The groups have another 60 
days in which to amass 3,000 additional signatures (or one 
percent of the population each) and to set up respective 
party constitutions before being registered as fully 
functioning political parties.  These requirements were 
contained within the 62-page guidelines for party 
registration issued by the Home Ministry shortly after the 
People's Majlis endorsed the President's initiative to allow 
political parties on June 2 (Reftel).  Each of the three 
applicants held public meetings in separate locations to 
rally support on June 5.  According to Shaheed, the President 
addressed the maiden meeting of his Maldivian People's Party 
himself, verbally extending "the hand of friendship" to all 
parties.  Shaheed added that the meeting, which took place in 
a primary school, was attended by 9,000 supporters. 
 
2.  (SBU) Despite a somewhat rocky beginning that saw six of 
its leaders detained for most of June 2--and a June 6 press 
release warning of undue presidential influence in emerging 
party politics--the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is 
optimistic for the future of multipartyism, Mohamad Naseer, 
an MDP council member, told poloff in Colombo on June 6. 
Naseer added that MDP Chairperson Nasheed was particularly 
upbeat--especially since he said he was not mistreated during 
his brief detention (Reftel).  When asked if he feared, as 
the MDP press release claimed, that Gayoom would use 
government apparatus to enlist support for his party, Naseer, 
who runs the opposition Minivan radio news, said he was 
confident of the MDP's popularity.  There will be occasional 
bumps along the road as the President and his coterie become 
accustomed to democracy and the concept of opposition, he 
indicated, but on the whole he believes the trend is 
positive. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Comment:  Arresting pro-reform activists on the 
very day scheduled to announce a key reform like 
multipartyism may seem a strange way to mark this important 
occasion, but apparently there are no hard feelings on the 
MDP side.  We welcome these new developments with cautious 
optimism, but note with some concern that the lengthy Home 
Ministry guidelines bar parties from engaging in acts of 
terrorism or acts intended to undermine the 
constitution--charges that the government has leveled in the 
past at the MDP and its members.  We do not know Umar Naseer 
or his new party, but understand that he is not/not connected 
to "Sheikh" Fareed, the fiery mullah whose arrest helped 
spark the civil unrest of last August. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LUNSTEAD