Zeenews Bureau
Male: Rejecting a call made by the US, deposed Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed on Saturday night dismissed proposals for a unity government to end political standoff in the country.
Thousands of supporters of Nasheed rallied in protest in the capital, Male, last night as the new President Mohamed Waheed Hassan was busy approaching parties to form a coalition government.
Addressing his supporters, Nasheed said, "We want an election and we will campaign for it". The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) does not accept the new government as legitimate, said the country’s first democratically-elected leader.
Nasheed insists he was removed in a coup and demands the newly-appointed President step down and hold an early election.
He further reiterated his calls for an independent inquiry into the alleged coup that toppled him.
A sense of uncertainty has gripped the Maldives since Nasheed resigned on February 07.
Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has encouraged the coalition of "former opposition" political parties affiliated with the new government to "work with all parties to reform".
He has encouraged them "to improve the capacity of the judiciary, the police and the election commission to ensure the election can be held in an orderly and peaceful manner", the minivannews.com reported.
Meeting the press in the National Art Gallery, Blake said that "a number of good ideas" were being explored to "try and bring former president Mohamed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) into the national unity government."
Nasheed's supporters have criticised the legitimacy of Waheed's government and have refused to participate in his proposed 'national unity' government.
First Published: Sunday, February 12, 2012, 11:56