Government thanks UK Parliament for their continued engagement in Maldives

On Thursday, 22 March Lord Howell of Guildford, the  Commonwealth Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office briefed the House of Lords on the developments in the Maldives and responded to questions from the House of Lords.

When questioned whether events in the Maldives were tantamount to a coup, Lord Howell

responded that this was indeed not the case. Lord Howell called for continued engagement of

the Commission of National Inquiry in establishing the full facts surrounding the transfer of

power.“We do not recognise this as a coup, although obviously there has been a change, we still need to establish the full circumstances of what occurred and we hope that the commission of

inquiry will do that.” said Lord Howell.

Lord Howell also  welcomed the appointment of Sir Don McKinnon as the Commonwealth's

special envoy and spoke of the UK’s support of the Roadmap brokered by India.

Lord Howell affirmed that the UK was “pressing for all sides to show calm and restraint and to

work towards a sustainable political solution.”

Lord Howell was also keen to emphasize that the Maldives remained a safe destination for

tourists. “At the moment we do not judge that there is any danger in the tourist areas.” Lord Howell explained.

In response to the discussions at House of Lords, Minister Dr. Abdul Samad Abdullah thanked

the UK Parliamentarians for their interest and continued engagement in the political process in

the Maldives, and reaffirmed the Government's commitment to resolving the current political

tensions. The Minister noted that the Constitution of the Maldives establishes a presidential

system in which the President and Vice-President are elected together by popular vote. Thus

when the President resigns the democratically-elected Vice-President becomes President.2

The Minister also noted that the Government has already established  an independent

investigation mechanism to look into events of 7th February. That mechanism has requested

international support for the completion of its mandate.

The Foreign Minister also said that in the interests of promoting national unity, President Dr.

Mohamed Waheed has given a commitment to discuss the possibility of holding early elections,

provided that there is consensus to do so among political parties, and that the necessary amendments are made to the Constitution