Noting the lack of progress made by the Commission of National Inquiry on the events that led to former President Mohamed Nasheed resigning his post, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) alleged that the administration was “deliberately delaying the inquiry to buy time to manipulate the facts and to delay holding early elections in the Maldives.”
The Commission was established in late February this year on the advice of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, even as the MDP and some members of the international community expressed concerns over the composition and mandate of the Commission.
The Commission published their preliminary findings in the form of a timeline of events that led to President Nasheed’s resignation. “We would like to call the international community’s attention to this timeline of events that was collated by the previous Commission. We strongly believe the timeline, although inadequate, is sufficient to establish that the transfer of power on 7th February 2012 was unlawful,” said Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, MDP’s spokesperson for international affairs.
The initial Commission was mandated to complete their inquiry by the end of May.
MDP wanted the international community to continue to observe the recent political developments in the Maldives and emphasized that given the amount of information made public and with the recent timeline of events published by the former Commission, a practical understanding can be reached on the importance of holding early elections in the Maldives.
“MDP is encouraged by the international community’s continued efforts to ensure that the democratic gains made in the past few years will not be wasted and that the consolidation of democracy in the Maldives will continue” Mr. Hamid added.
