New Maldives - Leadership Challenge

Leadership Challenge

Hassan Saeed, with Shaheed as his running mate, contested the first-ever multi-party presidential elections held in the Maldives in October 2008 on an independent ticket. At the start of the campaign, Saeed successfully overcame attempts to disqualify his candidature on the basis of his age (he was 38 at that time) and on the grounds of the nationality of his wife. Immediately afterward, the government banned, as un-Islamic, an academic book that Saeed had published four years previously on freedom of religion. The New Maldives team were blacked out from the state media for much of the campaign, until they threatened to take legal action against the government under the new Constitution that came into force a few weeks ahead of the election. In the first round, Saeed and Shaheed polled nearly 17% of the popular vote and having come third in the race, just failed to qualify for the second round run-off. However they pledged immediate and unconditional support to the contender, Mohamed Nasheed, and formed a coalition that defeated the 30-year-old regime on 28 October 2008.

In the government that was formed on 11 November 2008, Shaheed became the Foreign Minister, Jameel the Science and Technology Minister and Saeed Special Adviser to the President. Saeed quit as Adviser on 18 February 2009, alleging that the new president had betrayed the trust the people had placed in him by violating the Constitution and abusing power.