Washington: The US has expressed concern over attempts to keep former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed from contesting the upcoming presidential election in the country and called for a stop to such disruptive attempts. "The US is deeply concerned about continued legal actions that could further delay the Maldivian presidential election and prevent former president Nasheed from participating," a US State Department release issued on Thursday said.
It said the fresh election scheduled for Oct 19 must be held in a fair, inclusive and transparent way. "With the Maldivian Supreme Court ruling that a new round of elections must be held and the Elections Commission making preparations for voting by October 20, it is important that the process go forward unimpeded in a fair, inclusive and transparent way," it said. "The basis of any democracy is for citizens to choose their government, for political differences to be decided at the ballot box in an environment free of violence and for election results to be respected.
"We continue to urge a peaceful political process that is inclusive of all candidates in order to ensure the Maldivian election that will meet international standards of an elected, legitimate democracy," it added. The Commonwealth too on Friday called for a credible presidential election in the Maldives after the previous results were annulled. Donald McKinnon, the Commonwealth secretary-general's special envoy to the Maldives, while noting in a statement the decision of the Maldives Supreme Court to annul the first round of the presidential election, spoke highly of the ongoing preparations by the Elections Commission to ensure fresh elections, Xinhua reported.
"I encourage all Maldivians again to ensure that the presidential election is fully inclusive, credible and peaceful, so that the people of Maldives are free to choose their president from among those candidates already officially approved, and the inauguration can take place November 11," McKinnon said. A Commonwealth Observer Group was present in Maldives August 31-Sep 14 and reported positively on the credibility of the electoral process at the time. However, the results were challenged in court and the Supreme Court annulled the results and called for fresh elections.
