Sayeed Muhammad: The Maldives police and army have said they will act to guarantee that the result of Sunday’s presidential election is honoured.
The move comes amid reports the country’s ousted leader Abdulla Yameen is preparing a last-minute legal challenge to the vote, reports The Guardian.
The acting chief of the Maldives police, Abdulla Nawaz, tweeted on Wednesday evening the decision “made by the beloved people of the Maldives on 23 September will be respected and upheld by police”.
A similar statement was issued by captain Ibrahim Azim, an information officer in the Maldives National Defence Force.
The developments came after public warnings by opposition groups that Yameen, who was defeated in Sunday’s poll by 17 points, was preparing a legal bid to challenge the result.
“He is attempting to annul this election,” said Ahmed Maloof, a spokesman for the opposition coalition.
“He is attempting to take a case to the supreme court, and the ruling party sent a letter to the election commission that they want to delay the official election result.”
The country’s election commission has declared opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih the winner of the election even seven days before formal results.
Ahmed Shareef, the chair of the election commission and a close associate of Yameen, said Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives “had raised some concerns and asked the commission to delay the announcement of the official results”.
“The commission has not been briefed on the nature of the complaints yet, but there are allegations of fraud from what I understand,” Shareef manitained.
Ibrahim Shihab, a spokesman for the president’s office, told the Guardian that Yameen had “conceded the other day” but declined to rule out he was considering a legal challenge to the public’s decision.