We often talk about how corrupt are the politicians and those who are in high offices. I would say all of us are bonded through the chain corruption.
- First we sell our vote to the highest bidder, digging our own grave.
- The members than sell his/her vote to the Ultimate Buyer for money, position, power and so on
- The Ultimate Buyer, instead of meeting our demands, controls the members through the chain of corruption; we become helpless and our hopes for a decent life and a prosperous future gone.
- We cry, and whine saying how corrupt is the Majlis, the government and each and everyone who are in positions of power.
- After 21 days* we forget about everything and go about our lives and in between if some need arise, we beg the member or the Ultimate Buyer
- the member or the Ultimate buyer fulfills the need, on the promise of selling our vote again.
It’s a vicious circle
My request
- to Mps - to include vote buying/selling undue inducement as a criminal offence under electoral Law with sever punishments for the seller and the buyer
- to NGOs- A campaign on “Selling your vote is selling your (or islands') future or Don’t sell your vote” is perhaps more important than Go Vote campaign.
- To religious scholars and Adhalath Party- campaign to educate voters on bribery and punishment for that
- Anybody (Maldives Election watch, SLP,? ) interested in doing a study on the topic. the results could be an eye opener to plan for future.
and please target the island NGOs, ‘cause normally vote buyers first buy the island NGOs, which often are the most powerful group in island politics. The next is the individual power brokers and lastly the ordinary people.
*A theory reportedly came from the house of Ultimate Buyer, which says attention span of Maldivians lasts for only 21 days and if you can sustain till than, you can get away with anything.
For those interested in reading laws on vote buying and voting offences here are some links.
Election offences- local electorate act 2001 NZ
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:p1Xme6_8uHMJ:www.northshorecity.govt.nz/PDFs/Elections/Booklet/Election-offences.pdf+voting+offences&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=mv
Electoral act 2002 aus, victoria
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/ea2002103/s151.html
Ghana criminal code makes vote buying an offence http://business.africanpath.com/article.cfm?articleID=48279
