Maldives Democratic Transition and Reversal
Gayoom had governed since 1978 through controlled elections and the imprisonment of critics, among them Nasheed, a journalist repeatedly detained and tortured. Pressure following deaths in custody in 2003 produced constitutional reform and, in 2008, a genuinely contested election that Nasheed won in a run-off. His presidency combined climate advocacy — the Maldives' highest natural point is under three metres — with attempts to confront the judiciary he had inherited. The arrest of a chief judge triggered protests and police mutiny, and in February 2012 Nasheed resigned on television, later saying he had done so at gunpoint. He was subsequently convicted under terrorism laws in a trial the UN working group found arbitrary. Gayoom's half-brother won the presidency in 2013, and although a 2018 opposition victory produced another transfer of power, the institutions contested in 2012 were never fully resolved.
- Year: 2008 CE
- Category: Political
