Presidency
As Ibrahim Nasir's second term was coming to an end, he decided not to seek re-election and, in June 1978, the Citizen's Majlis was called upon to nominate a presidential candidate as required under the then-existing Constitution. There were 45 votes for Nasir (despite his stated intention not to seek re-election), with the remaining 3 votes for Gayoom. Another ballot was called on 16 June. Gayoom received 27 votes, allowing his name to be put forward as the sole candidate.
Five months later, he was elected the new President of the Maldives, with 92.96% of the votes. The grand reception of his inauguration was held at Majeediyaa School on the night of 10 November 1978. In a 1983 referendum, he was re-elected on 30 September for a second term, polling a record 95.6%. On 23 September 1988, he was re-elected for a third term with 96.4% of the popular vote. On 1 October 1993, he was elected for a fourth term with 92.76% of the popular vote. On 16 October 1998, Gayoom was elected for an unprecedented fifth term of office, this time with 90.9% of the popular vote. He was last re-elected to a sixth five-year term in October 2003 with 90.28% of the vote. In all cases, he was the sole candidate, having been nominated by the Majlis.
The President of the Maldives is both the Head of Government and Head of State, with very little distinction between the two roles. Therefore, Gayoom was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Maldivian armed forces, the Maldives National Defence Force.
In a 2007 referendum, voters approved a presidential system with direct election of the president rather than a parliamentary system. This was the option favored by Gayoom.
Read more about this topic: Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
Famous quotes containing the word presidency:
“Some of the offers that have come to me would never have come if I had not been President. That means these people are trying to hire not Calvin Coolidge, but a former President of the United States. I can’t make that kind of use of the office.... I can’t do anything that might take away from the Presidency any of its dignity, or any of the faith people have in it.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“... how often the Presidency has simply meant that a man shall be abused, distrusted, and worked to death while he is filling the great office, and that he should drop into unmerited oblivion when he has left the White House ...”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)