Maldives 2018

The Maldives is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean, made up of more than 1,200 islands. The population is estimated to be around 400,000 people, with a majority of citizens belonging to the Sunni Muslim faith. The economy relies heavily on tourism and fisheries, although it has seen recent growth in other sectors such as construction and manufacturing. The Maldives has strong diplomatic ties with many countries in the region, particularly India and China. According to extrareference, the Maldives is a presidential republic with a multi-party system. In 2018, President Abdulla Yameen was re-elected for a second term following an election process that saw some irregularities but was largely peaceful. Despite some economic challenges such as rising inflation and weak currency, the government has implemented several initiatives to help strengthen the economy and improve standards of living for its citizens.

Yearbook 2018

Maldives. At the beginning of the year, President Abdulla Yamin’s grip on power seemed to be tightening. Admittedly, in February, the Supreme Court (HD) rejected the judgments against former President Mohamed Nashid, former Vice President Ahmed Ahib Abdul Ghafur and eight other opposition politicians. According to the court, the trials had violated the constitution and international law. At the same time, HD declared that the twelve politicians who lost their parliamentary seats when they left Yamin’s party and went to the opposition would regain their seats. This would mean a majority in the parliament for the opposition. Nashid went into exile and received political asylum in the UK since he was sentenced in 2015 to 13 years in prison for terrorist offenses. Among those released through the decision in HD were also Ahmed Adib, who was convicted of attempted murder at Yamin 2015.

• According to Abbreviationfinder: MDV is an three letter acronym for Maldives.

However, the government did not give up without a fight. First the national police chief was fired after he said that the imprisoned politicians would be released. Thereafter, the parliamentary meetings were postponed indefinitely. Apparently, Yamin did not dare risk the opposition to dismiss him. One week after HD’s verdict, the courthouse was stormed and Chief Judge Abdulla Said and another high ranking judge arrested by security forces. The day after, the three remaining judges revoked the decision to annul the lawsuits and a week later the decision to reinstate the twelve MPs was withdrawn.

According to Countryaah.com, Male is the capital city of Maldives, a country located in Southern Asia. President Yamin introduced a 15-day emergency permit (which was later extended) in February and Maumun Abdul Gayum, who was president from 1978-2008, was arrested. Gayum is half brother to Yamin but had chosen to stand on the opposition’s side. In March, Gayum was indicted, two judges at the Supreme Court and several government officials for terrorism and coup attempts. In June, Gayum was sentenced to 19 months in prison for attempting to prevent the investigation into an alleged conspiracy against President Yamin.

Earlier in June, Yamin had announced presidential elections until September. Nashid expressed his ambition to stand but his candidacy was rejected by the Election Commission. Instead, large parts of the opposition launched Ibrahim Muhamed Solih as their joint candidate. Despite the regime’s repressive measures against the opposition and the media, Solih won a clear victory in the elections. The victory margin – 58.3% of the vote against 41.7% for Yamin – was the largest since the introduction of democracy in 2008.

Yamin first said he accepted the loss, but in October appealed the election results to the Supreme Court, claiming that there were cheats with the ballots. However, HD approved the election and Solih could be sworn in as president in November. By that time, Gayum had been released and his sentence against him was revoked. HD had also withdrawn the arrest warrant against Mohamed Nashid and the president could thus return to the Maldives.

HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Island state of South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean. Of the 1087 islands that make up the archipelago, only 220 are inhabited, and at the 2000 census the total population was 270,101. From an ethnic point of view it is made up of Indians, Sinhalese and Arabs, while as regards religion, Sunni Muslims prevail. The capital, Male, in 2004 was home to about a quarter of the total population.The main economic activity is tourism (even if it concerns only a limited number of islands in the archipelago), to which a large number of industries are connected (construction, transport, communications and other services). The revenues of this sector, in 2004, amounted to 75 % of GDP and the number of tourists is constantly increasing (616,700 admissions). The tsunami that struck numerous South-East Asian countries in December 2004 also caused serious devastation in M ​​.: according to the Asian Development Bank, the damage amounted to 470 million dollars, equal to 60 % of GDP; in particular, 20 hotels (out of a total of 87) were forced to close, albeit temporarily. Other components of the Maldivian economy are fishing, coconut palm cultivation and financial activities.