Man jailed for sexual abuse elected president of local council

Mohamed Ahmed (MD) - arrested and charged with the sexual abuse of a minor - has been elected president of GDh. Gadhdhoo Council.

Preliminary results show opposition PPM candidate Mohamed Ahmed won the seat in the Local Council Elections held on Saturday with an 85-vote margin over his closest rival, ruling MDP candidate Mohamed Rizan.

Mohamed Ahmed won 737 votes, while Mohamed Rizan won 652 votes.

Mohamed Ahmed - who has prior experience serving as president of Gadhdhoo Council - has been pressed with three charges and is currently being held in Maafushi Prison.

He was charged with carrying out a sexual act with a minor back in 2015 - when he had been serving as president of Gadhdhoo Council, he was later charged with showing pornographic material to a minor and possession of pornographic material in 2020.

The 2015 case against him remains open at the Gadhdhoo Magistrate Court, while trial has yet to begin in the new charges pressed against him in 2020.

Mohamed Ahmed had already been formally charged with the sexual offenses when he applied to run in the council elections on behalf of PPM.

He was allowed to compete in the elections as he has yet to be convicted, and because the Elections Commission did not make a decision regarding his candidacy.

PPM had previously stated that it will investigate the case and take appropriate action.