Gayoom’s long stay in power may reflect his immense popularity but that’s not the complete picture. To put it in perspective, through most of its history Maldives was governed as an independent Islamic sultanate and was a British protectorate from 1887 till its independence in July 25, 1965. The sultanate continued to operate for another three years and was finally abolished on November 11, 1968.

The 1968 referendum approved the constitution which made Maldives a republic with executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The President heads the executive branch and appoints the cabinet which is nominated to a five-year term by a secret ballot of the Majlis or the Parliament. Constitutionally, the President's post has to be confirmed by a national referendum.

Maldives has no organised political parties and candidates for elective office run as independents on the basis of personal qualifications. The unicameral Majlis serves five-year terms and comprises 50 members, eight of whom are nominated by the President. Two members each from 20 atolls and Male are elected directly by universal suffrage to send 42 members to the Majlis. The Majlis has legislative functions and limited powers to control the executive. The Maldivian legal system, derived mainly from traditional Islamic law, is administered by secular officials. A chief justice and lesser judges on each of the 20 atolls are appointed by the President and function under the Ministry of Justice.

Gayoom who came to power in 1978 replacing Ibrahim Nasir, who was Prime Minister under the pre-1968 sultanate and held the office of President from 1968 to 1978, studied at Al Azhar University in Egypt.He planned to have two houses of Parliament, and recruit people from all walks of life for the Majlis.

The constitution which was earlier amended in 1970, 1972, and 1975 was further amended under Gayoom largely to consolidate his power as the President. The most conspicuous feature of the constitution is, 60 per cent of its clauses deal with the powers and immunities of the President and 40 per cent of clauses deals with the responsibilities of the state and the rights of the people.

According to articles 34 and 35 of the constitution, any person can contest the Presidential election but in practice this never happened.The so-called public presidential vote by ‘secret ballot’ is only a referendum, where people can only say yes or no to the decision of the Majlis.

Gayoom’s electoral success in the last 20 years has been attributed to many reasons. His critics allege that Gayoom has been successfully manipulating the political process by muzzling all opposition to him.

When Gayoom came to power in 1978, he promised to transform the Majlis into a democratic parliament. He also assured that he would bring multi-party democracy and the country would be governed by two houses of Parliament. This never happened and the Majlis remains a unicameral legislative body, reduced to function as an advisory committee to the President.

The November 8, 1988 abortive coup by Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries who tried to overthrow Gayoom’s regime was due to the growing opposition to the Maldivian President. The general perception however remains that Indian armed forces that were sent at the request of the Maldivian President suppressed the attempted coup and restored Gayoom’s regime within 24 hours.

The fact however remains that the mercenaries after a long voyage were seasick and even before Indian forces could launch their operation, an NSS soldier shot dead their leader, which left them confused. There is no grain of truth that the mercenaries belonged to the LTTE which wanted to take over Maldives to secure a base.

From the days of Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian government has continuously been influencing Gayoom’s regime. India has been insisting on multi-party system in Maldives and Prime Minister Vajpayee during his visit to Maldives in September 2002 is reported to have advised the Maldivian President to bring transparency in his governance. Gayoom has been using authoritative powers to suppress any support for a multi-party democratic system. Reformer Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected to one of the two Malé seats in the Majlis, was imprisoned on fabricated charges and subsequently exiled. In another case, Ibrahim Luthfee and few others got life imprisonment for criticising Gayoom's regime.

In two decades of his rule, Abdul Gayoom has been able to do a lot for his country which is no mean achievement. It would be belittling Abdul Gayoom’s achievement to criticise him for being a dictator. In fact, what Abdul Gayoom has achieved in 20 years for Maldives most of the democracies may have not been able to achieve.

Beating the summer 250 years ago