Stage is set for political confrontation

Provincial results of the 77 parliamentary seats contested in this year's elections show the following results.

MDP 26, DRP 28, IND 13, PA 7, DQP 2, REP 1, TOTAL 77.

No single party has secured the majority in the new parliament i.e,39 seats. It appears DRP and PA coalition with 35 seats together with independents who could be lobbied to their side could form the majority voting bloc.

This is a huge setback for the MDP and it will make it very difficult to pass their legislative agenda. In order to fulfil the pledges in their election manifesto, MDP needs to pass 65 bills on transport, taxation, public utilities, housing, health insurance, privatisation, and reforming the drug laws, penal code and criminal justice system. We will have to wait and see the horse trading that will take place inside the parliament to pass any of these bills.

MDP who were confident of securing 50 seats must be wondering what went wrong.

Speculation is rife that MDP government's refusal to hold the leaders of the previous DRP government accountable for the numerous cases of wrong doings including the financial irregularities cited by the independent Auditor General has led the electorate to turn against the MDP as show by the election results. Whatever is the merit of this argument, parliament will be in gridlock over several legislative bills of the MDP because the opposition is out to prove that the current government has failed and is unable fulfil its promises.

President Nasheed has to now move beyond the hard-nosed campaign rhetoric and prove himself to be a national leader capable of lifting this country out of the rut that it has endured for the last 30 years.