With parliamentary elections scheduled for 2008, Maldivian political parties are taking the battle for votes to the the islands. But while they address local concerns like healthcare and sanitation, opposition parties also have one eye on the campaign for constitutional reform and regime change in Malé.

Minivan News joined the Maldivian Democratic Party on an overnight trip to Velidhoo Island in Noon Atoll to see how the organisation which grew out of opposition to President Gayoom is managing the transition from movement to party.

Party of Protest

The MDP’s roots as a protest movement are integral to their political strategy on the islands. The centrepiece of the trip is a Thursday night meeting in a school hall, where party grandees from Malé take it in turns to make speeches to a growing audience.

The politics are visual and verbal. Sweat pours down the faces of speech makers, fists are shaken, and the microphone screeches, as speakers recount personal experiences of corruption and torture.

For many supporters it is the MDP’s ability to express their own anger at the government that makes the party appealing.

Mohamed Yousuf, a dhoni captain, has travelled from a neighbouring island to hear the speeches. His politics are based on resentment. He is alarmed by the price of property and is angry that “DRP members are given all the land.”

His understanding of the MDP is one of empowerment. He tells me that “so much has changed in two years” and “people are no longer afraid to raise their voices.” He relates how his island chief was forced to resign after appointing a DRP friend to a senior post – an act that would not have been challenged a year ago.

He has little knowledge or interest in policy, saying simply that “the MDP fight for my rights against the government.”

Politics on Velidhoo is subsumed in this culture of opposition, and there is little understanding of differences between political parties. Until recently the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) and MDP cooperated in holding anti-government protests.

This blurring of party lines is starkly illustrated when Shiaz, a leading MDP activist on the island, and my impromptu guide, explains he is not actually a party member. His wife’s mother and Government Minister Abdulla Yameen’s mother are cousins, and his wife joined the DRP under family pressure. Since then Shiaz and his wife have been happy to be activists for the MDP while she is a silent member of the DRP

Bread and Water Politics

Away from the MDP rally, Velidhoo householders talk not of the government in Malé, but of everyday problems on the island. Heads of families voiced three concerns consistently; improved sanitation; a hospital on the island; and a school where their children could study A-Levels.

Islanders expect change from patronage not politics. Fatima Ali, a forty year old mother of six, said she joined the IDP when they came to the island, because they “said they would help me build my house.” A year later, the party has only given her RF1000 towards her house and she is “fed up of politicians.”

Mohamed Ibrahim, a fishing boat captain, tells me his father is disabled and entitled to benefits. But the Welfare Ministry claim to be sending the money to the Island Office, and the Island Office deny receiving it.

When Mohamed tells me this story, his neighbours nod their heads, and there seems to be a role for political parties to provide advocates for individuals in their daily battles with bureaucracy.

Malé-centric Party

But the geography of the Maldives, and the MDP’s current structure, make it difficult to pursue individual cases in the remote islands.

Gofis (branches) of the party have often grown up around individual members, and are often spread across islands and atolls. Personality-based Gofis are loosely tied to the party and engaged in national rather than local issues. When Sheikh Fareed recently left the party over religious issues, the party feared his entire Gofi would follow him.

Gofis are arranged into regional Dhaairas. Dhaaira heads are generally Malé based figures who combine their responsibilities for organising party activities in the atolls, with membership of the MDP National Council.

This organisational structure can hamper efforts to build a strong local party. Shiaz told us of a dhoni captain from Miladhoo who is a key local activist for the party and had come to Velidhoo for the MDP meetings. The dhoni captain was upset he had not been given notice of the meeting or informed the party would provide food and accommodation for members who attended.

Building the National Party

The second day of the trip is devoted to a Dhaaira meeting. Local members participated in workshops on the Draft Atoll and Island Council and Bill how the atoll will be divided into parliamentary seats. Local members were encouraged to feedback during both workshops. The exchange of ideas in the Dhaaira meeting suggested growing recognition within the MDP of the need to anchor the party in the locality.

In an interview on the speedboat back to Malé, Chairperson Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) tackled the issue head on. He acknowledges it is “crucial” to give islanders “ownership” of the party.

His radical vision for local engagement include plans for a Welfare Officer on each island whose only responsibility would be to pursue the issues of local party members with the Island Office. Anni also wants to open more haruges – halls where members on islands can debate policies and hold meetings about the party.

The party is working to increase the esteem of the position of Gofi head and working to ensure that Godi and Daaria heads are based on the islands they are responsible for.

Anni acknowledges communication in the party is too dependent on individual relationships rather than the Secretariat. The Party are headhunting a bilingual Communications Officer who is respected at a local level to create a formal national communication system.

Policy or Protest

But Anni sees limits to what can be achieved locally with the current government in place and the extent of local corruption. Anni’s explains away the MDP’s lack of detailed policies in a similar way. He holds out the end of government corruption as a panacea that will solve social problems by funding a “big splash” to deliver facilities to the islands.

Anni reassures me that the MDP “are armed with degrees” and ready for government. But he fears MDP will be co-opted “like the opposition in Singapore who sit in parliament but can not oppose the government,” if the party focuses on policy and local issues to the detriment of protest against the government.

To an extent this is a response to government policy. Our whole trip takes place under the shadow of a Star Force crack down on MDP protestors on Kibidhoo, which Anni says is a government show of force after the DRP withdrew from talks with the MDP.

But it also reflects the views of Velidhoo islanders, who did not ask about national health or education policies but who could build a school or hospital for them, and when. It is clear that parliamentary elections will be determined as much by the politics of patronage as the politics of protest.