Parties agree to agree on an agenda

Political parties of Maldives have concurred to agree on an agenda at the next meeting, at last night’s all-party-talks meeting held to resolve political tensions currently faced by the country.

Nine parties including Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) met last night after a pause due to Talks Coordinator Ahmed Mujtaba being away on holiday since 8 April.

After the meeting, Mujtaba said that all parties were in the spirit of holding discussions.

“Earlier we had seven items on the agenda, but now we don’t need seven, because one of the items was to open the parliament peacefully. The Parliament has been opened, so we will remove that. We will now arrange the remaining items. We won’t take a vote, the agreement is to arrange the items as agreed,” Mujtaba said.

The party talks have not resulted in any positive outcome so far. The next meeting will be held on 5 May and Mujtaba has asked all members to spare more time for that meeting.

The usual participants from MDP were not seen last night; instead, Henveiru Dhekunu MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor attended the meeting.

Hamid Abdul Gafoor said that last night, every party was given the chance to point out five things that are of most concern to them. MDP wished to discuss issues which are common concerns for most parties, and no longer stressed on the issue of holding an early election:

“A lot of people are concerned about the date of an early election. So we thought, we should wait a while, and talk about things that will facilitate an early election. The issue was part of the meeting, but to begin with, maybe it’s better to not go there; right now we are trying to commence talks. But the issue is of an early election is definitely on the table. We are only participating in the talks because the possibility still exists.”

Belgian Mediation Expert Yves Monette participated and assisted Mujtaba at last night’s meeting. Monett said after the meeting that the parties are ready to talk and listen, and hope of holding successful talks had just been increased:

“It’s normal that people have different opinions. The important thing is to hold discussions; that’s how solutions can be reached. That’s what we saw last night: that they were open for dialogue, that they were willing to listen to the other party’s point of view.”