US should push for early elections in Maldives: Senator Robert Casey

United States senior Senator from Pennsylvania Robert Patrick Casey has said that The United States should push for an early election in Maldives.

India’s Zee news quoted Senator Casey saying during the confirmation hearing of Michele Sison, who has been nominated as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, “The US should continue to press for elections as soon as possible to ensure that the seeds of the democratic process planted in 2008 are able to flourish.”

Casey also said that the democratic beginning in Maldives in 2008 can get "derailed" due to this year's political unrest.

Meanwhile, according to Zee news, Sison, the newly appointed US ambassador in Colombo who is also accredited to Maldives, said the US continues to "encourage" Maldives to "work within existing democratic institutions" for resolving political challenges "peacefully and transparently".

"The US government now has a window of opportunity to step up its engagement in Maldives, and USAID recently committed funding to assist Maldives in ensuring that the next round of presidential elections is free and fair," Zee news quoted Sison.