President went to office last night prepared to resign, says Minister Shakeela

Government has said that the President had written and with him a letter and statement of resignation, when we went to the President’s Office to address the nation on Sunday night.

Speaking at a press conference in President’s Office today, Minister temporarily in-charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mariyam Shakeela said the president went to the office on Sunday night ready to resign and that he decided to continue to stay in office over pleas from his cabinet and associates close to him.

“President wants to resign and step back. He, even until the last minute, went to the president office decided [to resign]. By appeals from all the ministers and others close to him, the president decided to remain [in power]. He had a resignation statement with him too,” Shakeela said.

She said the president also faced enormous pressure to resign on Sunday, both from international and domestic parties. The international partners had mainly pressed him to hand over presidential powers to the Speaker of the Parliament, Shakeela said.

“There was great international pressure yesterday. We had to make decisions promptly. From about 9:00 in the morning until when he gave the statement last night. There was pressure until the very last minute,” Shakeela said.

She said the president had agreed to remain in office under the condition that the cabinet does not pressure him to continue in office after the 16 November presidential election. The president will only attend office to address pressing matters, Shakeela said.

“President decided to stay on after gave him the assurance that we will not put any more pressure. He told each minister individually, that they must not pressure me to stay on as president any further,” Shakeela said.

The constitutional end-of-the-presidential term expired by 00:00 on Monday, 11 November. The president currently remains in power supported by a Supreme Court ruling, which states that he may continue until a new president is elected.