Maldives' main opposition party will boycott a presidential election scheduled in September unless it is held under a transitional government, a party spokesman said on Tuesday.
Ahmed Naseem, a former foreign minister and a spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic Party, said the party doesn't trust President Mohammed Waheed to hold a fair election.
He said the party wants a transitional government led by the speaker of Parliament for two months as allowed under the constitution of the Indian Ocean nation.
‘An interim government and then elections. Nothing else. If these arrangements are not made, the MDP will not participate in the election,’ Naseem told reporters in Colombo in neighbouring Sri Lanka.
Maldives is scheduled to hold its second multiparty presidential election on 7 September.
Meanwhile, with less than 24 hours left for Mohamed Nasheed to be produced by police before a Court in Male, India on Tuesday said it would be the ‘happiest’ if the situation arising out of ex-Maldives President taking refuge in its Mission for the seventh day in a row is resolved.
Nasheed, who is holed up in the Indian High Commission to evade an arrest warrant, is scheduled to be presented before the Court by the local police at 4 PM on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who has in the recent past spoken to his Maldivian counterpart a couple of times, said Maldives is a very close friend of India.
‘There is unusual stress caused by local conditions. We just wish them the best... I would certainly endorse any method and any means by which the present situation can be resolved,’ he said.
The Minister added: ‘I think it is actually not a matter that gives any sense of satisfaction and if it gets resolved, we will be the happiest’.
As part of the ongoing consultations, the Indian High Commissioner D M Mulay has in last few days met Thasmeen Ali, leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).
The DRP is now the second largest party in Maldives with 22,687 members and a key constituent of the coalition government headed by President Mohamed Waheed.
Ahmed Naseem, a former foreign minister and a spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic Party, said the party doesn't trust President Mohammed Waheed to hold a fair election.
He said the party wants a transitional government led by the speaker of Parliament for two months as allowed under the constitution of the Indian Ocean nation.
‘An interim government and then elections. Nothing else. If these arrangements are not made, the MDP will not participate in the election,’ Naseem told reporters in Colombo in neighbouring Sri Lanka.
Maldives is scheduled to hold its second multiparty presidential election on 7 September.
Meanwhile, with less than 24 hours left for Mohamed Nasheed to be produced by police before a Court in Male, India on Tuesday said it would be the ‘happiest’ if the situation arising out of ex-Maldives President taking refuge in its Mission for the seventh day in a row is resolved.
Nasheed, who is holed up in the Indian High Commission to evade an arrest warrant, is scheduled to be presented before the Court by the local police at 4 PM on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who has in the recent past spoken to his Maldivian counterpart a couple of times, said Maldives is a very close friend of India.
‘There is unusual stress caused by local conditions. We just wish them the best... I would certainly endorse any method and any means by which the present situation can be resolved,’ he said.
The Minister added: ‘I think it is actually not a matter that gives any sense of satisfaction and if it gets resolved, we will be the happiest’.
As part of the ongoing consultations, the Indian High Commissioner D M Mulay has in last few days met Thasmeen Ali, leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).
The DRP is now the second largest party in Maldives with 22,687 members and a key constituent of the coalition government headed by President Mohamed Waheed.