New Delhi
4 April 2007
international community and continues to make efforts towards holding multi-party
election. "Multi-party election will have to be held ... I don't think we can afford to
overshoot [the deadline in the roadmap]," Maldivian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed
Shaheed said.
In an interview to this newspaper on the sidelines of the 14th SAARC Summit, Mr
Shaheed said that the multi-party election proposed next year could be delayed because
technically, it can be held only after the Constitution has been revised. He nevertheless
allayed fears of inordinate delay by asserting that the government remains committed to
holding the election.
"Multi-party election will have to be held ... I don't think we can afford to overshoot [the
deadline] ... Maldives cannot afford to miss holding multi-party election because the
risks to the country are very high if it did not at least make the next election multi-party
because if election were to be held on any other basis it would lack legitimacy," he said.
Appreciating the concerns of the international community, the minister said that Maldives
could witness more protests and the country could plunge into public instability and
chaos if parties were not allowed to contest.
Mr Shaheed felt that all-party talks was the "only sensible way forward" and maintained
that bipartisan talks between two major parties was possible. "There are huge obstacles
to collaboration because of difference in views ... they see democracy as regime change.
They do not want to collaborate if they cannot have regime change, that is a problem
[but] the government hopes [talks] will start very soon," he said.
Alluding to a "couple of windows" available to the government, he said that the
Commonwealth envoy could try to get the parties to talk. A "second window of
opportunity" would be to hold a seminar on the draft constitution and thrash out a model
constitution, as has been proposed by the Commonwealth.
India, he said, was a key player in the reform process and Maldives would do nothing to
undermine the "good neighbourly approach" that has characterised Indo-Maldivian
relations over decades. He added that there was scope for India to get the political
parties to agree to talks.
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