In 2015, the Maldives was a presidential republic led by President Abdulla Yameen and his government. The government was divided into three branches; executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch consisted of the President and his cabinet which was responsible for making policy decisions. The legislative branch was composed of the unicameral Parliament which included 85 members elected in a general election held every five years. Finally, the judicial branch included a Supreme Court as well as High Courts, Magistrates’ Courts and other courts with specialized jurisdiction. See ehealthfacts for Maldives in the year of 2005.
The political system in Maldives is considered semi-authoritarian given the lack of political freedoms for citizens who are not part of the ruling party or its allies. This means that freedom of speech, assembly and association are all restricted to varying degrees depending on which region or party is in power at any given time. In addition to this, corruption is still a major problem in Maldives with allegations of bribery being common place in both private businesses as well as government institutions. Despite these issues, however, it is important to note that Maldives has been making progress over recent years with regards to its democratic development since 2015 particularly through initiatives such as decentralizing power away from the central government to local governments and increasing access to education for all citizens.
Yearbook 2015
Maldives. In February, former President Mohamed Nashid was arrested for breaking the country’s terrorist laws when, in 2012, during his time as president, he dismissed and let the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court be arrested. According to COUNTRYAAH, Male is the capital of Maldives which is located in Southern Asia. The trial of Nashid began the day after his arrest, which drew sharp criticism from, among others, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In March, Nashid was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In July, the government appealed the sentence and Nashid’s prison sentence was converted into house arrest. The international criticism of the case prompted President Abdulla Yamin to accuse the outside world of interfering with the Maldives’ internal affairs. In August, however, Nashid was taken back to prison. In March, former Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim was also sentenced to a long prison sentence. Nazim, who was fired in January.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Maldives country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
Political turmoil in the country continued in July when Deputy President Mohamed Jamil Ahmed was ousted by Parliament, accused of treason. In his place, Ahmed Adib was sworn in as vice president. However, Adib was arrested in October, suspected of treason. He was accused of having been involved in an incident the month before when an explosion occurred on President Yamin’s boat. The president’s wife and two other people suffered minor injuries. Although a November FBI investigation found no evidence that the explosion was the result of a bomb attack, it was described by the regime as an attempt to assassinate the president. Adib was ousted by Parliament in November. The same month, it was announced that he was charged with a number of offenses. Among other things, he was suspected of terrorism because he must have carried a gun.
Two days before the opposition party Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), represented by President Nashid, would conduct a planned demonstration, the president introduced a 30-day state of emergency, but this was lifted after six days.
MALDIVES
At the 1990 census the population amounted to 214,139 residents, Spread over about 220 islands. The capital, Male, hosted 55,130 residents on the same date. The economy, always very poor, is experiencing a moderate expansion thanks to tourism: the revenues of this sector amount to over one sixth of the gross domestic product and the number of tourists (195,000 in 1990) has grown enormously in the space of a few years. . The other major component of the economy of the Maldives is the exploitation of sea resources (about 70,000 tons of fish, partly exported), still practiced largely with antiquated means, even if a gradual mechanization of the fleet is underway. The traditional production of dry fish, usually exported to Srī Laṅka, has been progressively supplanted in favor of that of fresh fish,
The cessation, in 1976, of the lease of the Gan air base to the United Kingdom, in line with the neutral policy followed by the country, represented an element of economic crisis despite a financial contribution granted by the British.