| "Nothin' ever happens in the Maldives. What do we need democracy for?" |
Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Wednesday ruled out allowing a multiparty democracy in the tropical Indian Ocean archipelago until proposed constitutional reforms are implemented. Gayoom, who has ruled the Maldives since 1978, said there was "no scope for political parties" under the existing constitution.
| "Not until I die of old age..." |
He told a rare news conference in New Delhi that a special parliamentary assembly, or Majlis, has been given a year to draft new laws, but did not say when the reforms would be introduced. Political parties are banned in the Maldives, a nation of 278,000 people on 1,192 coral islands about 500 kilometres off the coast of India. Mohamed Nasheed, chairman of the Maldives Democratic Party, the main opposition group, said last week in Sri Lanka that he planned to return from exile and formally establish his party in the Maldives. But Gayoom, who is on six-day visit to India, said: "We do not recognise any political parties. We cannot do so under the present constitution." |