British ambassador James Dauris briefs UK lawmakers on EC 'threat to dissolve to opposition'
Dauris has primarily briefed UK lawmakers about the Elections Commission threatening to dissolve MDP
UK ambassador James Dauris (L) photographed at the President\'s Office during a meeting with Maldives\' incumbent president Abdulla Yameen
British ambassador James Dauris has met with members of the UK parliamentary group to discuss recent developments in what they previously referred to as a crisis in the Maldives.
Dauris, officially the ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, revealed this through a post on his Twitter account.
While incumbent president Abdulla Yameen has faced criticism for what his political opponents describe to be targeted prosecution of the opposition, the Elections Commission this week threatened to dissolve the Maldivian Democratic Party if it allows its founder and Maldives former president, Mohamed Nasheed to contest is primary elections.
The basis for the decision is Nasheed's 13-year jail term, passed against him following judicial proceedings that are now said to have been conducted unfairly. The United Nations Human Rights Commission has called on the Maldivian government to quash his conviction.
The British ambassador has been heavily vocal about Maldives’ precarious political situation and previously called on relevant authorities here to ensure that upcoming presidential ballots are fair.
Maldives’ situation has also been discussed in the UK Parliament twice before. In a sitting this March, MP for East Devon, Hugo Swire expressed concern over the crisis in Maldives, and called for targeted sanctions against the current regime’s leaders.
Swire, also UK’s former Foreign Office Minister, called on the British government to:
- Call for the release and access to lawyers for all political prisoners
- Lobby for an UN backed mission, led by someone like Kofi Annan, to go to the Maldives without delay
- Call for free and properly convened elections later this year to be overseen by an international body
- Provide support and assistance in the wholesale reform of judges and the judicial system
- Work with other like-minded countries to counter Islamic radicalization in the Maldives
- Raise the issue of the Maldives at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in April
- Ask the opposition parties to provide a list of resorts owned by President Abdulla Yameen’s circle in order that they can be publicized and boycotted in the event that none of the above happening
- Put plans in place, to increase targeted sanctions against the Yameen regime if the Supreme Court ruling is not fully implemented.
The UK Parliament had discussed the Maldives situation back in February as well, after the Maldivian government contentiously declared a state of emergency, without even slight adherence to procedure, following which the government ordered mass arrests and violent crackdown of protests.
