The people of the Maldives require, first and foremost, empowerment through authority of the consitution, says former vice president Mohamed Jameel Ahmed.

The former vice president said, at an event held to kick off the opposition Jumhooree Party’s campaign efforts ahead of the upcoming elections, Jameel said that the Maldivian ‘constitution has been buried’.

Jameel said this during his address through a video conference call, further stating that the Maldivian people are impatient to have a leader that ‘puts the nation ahead of himself’.

Jameel also said that there is no way Maldivians can acquire justice and democratic reform if they give into the actions of the ‘current government’.

The former vice president also said that the nation’s next leaders must focus on developing individual state insitutions and ensuring independence of the judiciary.