Ex-Maldives president pushes for polls date
Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday demanded the government fulfil its promise to set an early election date to ease the political impasse gripping the troubled islands.
"The people of the country want an early election. They want to know the date and how it will be organised," Nasheed told thousands of party supporters during a rally in the capital Male.
New Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed agreed on Thursday to bring forward elections originally scheduled for October 2013, in an apparent concession to Nasheed who claims he was toppled in a coup d'etat.
Nasheed welcomed Waheed's decision, but the new authorities have yet to set a date for the poll.
The archipelago has been rocked by political turmoil and violence since February 7 when Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected leader, quit following street protests and a mutiny by police officers.
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