Won

The President’s Office has said that it will not entertain Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) requests to discuss issues related to the report of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI).

Spokesperson of the President’s Office Abbas Adil Riza said that there is no point in talking about the outcomes of the report before it is published.

“CNI’s report will not act as a final verdict. The purpose of the report is to assist the relevant institutions. So, there’s no need to make the report a ‘political carnival’,” Riza said.

Referring to MDP’s claim that MDP should be allowed to return to power if CNI decides that there was a coup involved in the transfer of power, Riza pointed out that the Constitution does not stipulate that power should be returned to a person who had resigned from his post as President.

MDP issued a press statement last Tuesday, which stated that if the transfer of power was according to the Constitution and did not involve any illegal activities, MDP would suggest that the next presidential election takes place next year as per the Constitution.

However, if power was transferred illegally, power should be returned to MDP.

This suggestion by MP Ali Waheed was supported by MDP National Steering Committee, which also passed that an early election should be held if CNI’s report states that the government was changed through a coup. It also said that the current persons in the government should be removed from power and taken to Court, and the Court process should be completed in one month.

The Committee hoped to get a response to this suggestion before the end of Ramadan.