6 September 2018, MALE: The Maldivian Democratic Party condemns President Yameen and his ruling party for deliberately distributing a made-up diplomatic cable purportedly from the United States State Department.

The fake cable, which was distributed by PPM activists on Twitter yesterday, is attributed to former American ambassador Atul Keshap, and claims that the US government favours the joint coalition candidate, before going on to make false claims about the candidate’s health.

The statement contains a number of tell-tale formatting irregularities, and is peppered with poorly constructed and grammatically incorrect sentences (a phenomenon known in the Maldives as ‘PPM English’).

The United States government issued a statement last night stating that the cable was fraudulent, and calling for the upcoming presidential elections to be free and fair.

The cable is the latest in a long list of unethical and illegal activities carried out by the ruling party in order to swing the vote in favour of President Yameen.

President Yameen remains a deeply unpopular and polarising figure in the Maldives. During his time in office, the president has been personally implicated in numerous corruption and money-laundering scandals, as well as linked to violent, local street gangs, international criminals, and foreign mafias.

The MDP believes that the only way the president can win the upcoming poll is through massive voter fraud and other unlawful acts.