Maldives sets elections for 2013

MALE (Reuters) – The Maldives on Wednesday chose July 2013 for a presidential election, spurning calls for early polls and risking more protests by supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed, overthrown in what he calls a coup on the tropical atoll nation.

Current President Mohamed Waheed Hussain Manik, who was vice president under Nasheed, says his predecessor resigned voluntarily after protests triggered by the arrest of a judge. “President Waheed is fully committed to strengthening democratic processes in the Maldives and has called for elections in July 2013, the earliest date permitted under the constitution,” his office said.

Nasheed says he was forced to resign at gunpoint on February 7. He calls the current government a dictatorship and has led mostly peaceful protests since his ouster. “We need to have an election in 2012, if not, skewing of the playing field and entrenchment of the dictatorship will happen,” he told Reuters in New Delhi. Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, is backed by the Commonwealth group of mostly former British colonies, which on Monday threatened to suspend the Maldives if the vote is not brought forward.