COLOMBO, Oct 13 (AFP): The United States (US) warned Saturday that action could be taken against outgoing Maldives president Abdulla Yameen if he seeks to overturn his election defeat.
The warning by a US State Department spokesman came on the eve of a Maldives Supreme Court hearing on a petition by Yameen to annul the result of a September 23 presidential election which he spectacularly lost.
"The US is concerned by troubling actions" by Yameen "that threaten to undermine the will of the Maldivian people, and will consider appropriate measures against anyone who undermines a peaceful transfer of power in Maldives," deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said on Twitter.
The United States had previously warned of targeted sanctions if Yameen's administration attempted to rig the September vote won by opposition figure Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
Yameen is due to hand over power on November 17 when his five-year term ends. He initially conceded defeat, but has since petitioned the Supreme Court to annul the result.
The court's decision to accept Yameen's petition has raised the prospect of fresh upheaval in the country's turbulent politics.
The Supreme Court hearing is due to start at 1:00 pm in the upmarket tourist destination which is also at the centre of a tussle for influence between India and China. Yameen has courted China's backing.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), whose candidate won a landslide, said Yameen should respect the result.
Yameen-whose main political rivals were either in jail or in exile for the vote-was unexpectedly beaten by Solih with 58.4 per cent of the vote.
In the run-up to the election, the opposition had feared it would be rigged as Solih was not allowed to campaign freely and was denied media coverage.
Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, Colombo-based spokesman for the MDP, said that the legal challenge was "an attempt by Yameen to create unrest".
A Reuters report adds: Intimidation and threats drove four members of an election panel in the Maldives to flee the island nation, two officials said on Saturday, a day before its top court hears defeated president Abdulla Yameen's challenge to his election loss last month.
The tourist paradise has been in political upheaval since February, when a state of emergency was imposed by Yameen, who ran the Indian Ocean islands with an iron hand, critics say, jailing political opponents and Supreme Court justices.
Since Yameen lost his bid for re-election, the opposition has been trying to secure a smooth transition of power, due on Nov. 17.
Four members of the Maldives Elections Commission have fled and three are in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, leaving behind just one panel member, two of the Maldivian officials told the news agency on condition of anonymity.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
