President is ready to step down if all the parties want him to resign: Abbas

Spokesperson of the President’s Office, Abbas Adhil Riza has said that President Dr. Mohamed Waheed is ready to step down if the all of the parties wants him to resign.

Abbas said that the President has assured this in front of the representatives of all of the political parties. He added that the President made the remark during his visit to the all party talks.

The Spokesperson of the President’s Office said that the President is not a despotic ruler who does not want to hold an election despite the allegations of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

“Please take note that President Dr. Mohamed Waheed got the majority votes in the year 2008. The 24 percent that gave their votes to MDP did also give their votes to Dr. Waheed. Didn’t they? So now the remaining 76 percent is supporting the President? So how can this reality be distorted to deceive the lot?,” he asked.

“Even if the President announced that he wants to hold the election on 2013 there is nothing that stops him from that. But the President always gives preference to the betterment of the people. That is why he is continuing the all party talks. It is President Dr. Waheed who wants to hold an early election if a solution is reached via dialogue between the parties,” he said.

Abbas further questioned on the integrity of the MDP towards democracy. He said, “When they claim that the 8 February arsons were only false reports of the media, then wasn’t it within 24 hours of Inthi’s exposure of MDP’s internal matters that his dhoni was burnt? Wasn’t it the house of the councilor who did not support MDP which was torched? Is this how you campaign?”

Meanwhile, President Dr. Waheed earlier said that he will resign if the investigation of the National Enquiry Commission concludes that the events surrounding the transfer of power on the 7th February does involve illegal matters.

In an interview to the local TV station, VTV, the President said that if the National Enquiry Commission concludes that the power was transferred unconstitutionally then there would be no need for an early election and former President Nasheed would be reinstated.

President Dr. Waheed said that even though the current government is legitimate but if the opposition wants to change the government by holding early elections then that can be done through the Peoples’ Majlis by amending the constitution. He said that he is open for that and he welcomes such an initiative.