Maldives leader agreeing to early presidential vote

MALE, Maldives — The president of the Maldives said Saturday he was willing to hold an early presidential election to allow voters to decide who they want to lead the Indian Ocean archipelago, as political unrest continued to grow after a court ordered the release and retrial of political prisoners.

Speaking publicly for the first time since Thursday’s Supreme Court order to release politicians opposed to him, including exiled former President Mohammed Nasheed, President Yameen Abdul Gayoom said he was open to holding an election several months before his term ends in November.

In addition to ordering the release of the political prisoners, the court also reinstated 12 lawmakers who had been ousted for switching allegiance to the opposition. When those lawmakers return, Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives will lose its majority in the 85-member parliament, which can result in the legislative body functioning as a rival power to the president.

The opening of the Parliament for the year on Monday has been indefinitely postponed, opposition lawmaker Ahmed Mahloof said. He says the government’s fear of losing their majority could be the reason for the postponement.

Yameen said that he did not expect the court ruling, but that all relevant authorities of the state need to do “a lot of work to see how to implement it.”

“We are working on making sure we can respect the Supreme Court order in a way that doesn’t cause any difficulties to the people,” he said at a rally in his support organized by his Progressive Party of the Maldives.

Earlier on Saturday, Yameen fired a national police chief for the second time since the court order. Yameen’s office said he dismissed Ahmed Saudhee and appointed Deputy Police Commissioner Abdulla Nawaz to act as interim police chief. No reason was given for the dismissal.