Former President Mohamed Nasheed has said that India should ‘step in’ to make sure that Maldives has free, fair, and inclusive elections.

In an interview on WION TV on Friday, Nasheed said that Maldives has changed into an authoritarian country and that the current political situation will not allow for a fair election.

In the interview, Nasheed accused President Abdulla Yameen of ‘dismantling’ the Supreme Court and the justice system and said that he has also used the military to occupy and take over the parliament.

“We have a situation where President Yameen has arrested every single opposition leader during the last two years… He has also arrested his own vice president, two defense ministers, two Chief of Polices, the chief justice, another justice of the Supreme Court, a prosecutor general, and the list goes on.”

Nasheed noted that President Abdulla Yameen has also arrested his own brother, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and nephew MP Faris Maumoon as well as numerous other parliamentarians.

Speaking on President Yameen’s administration increasing Maldives’ ties with China, Nasheed said that it has caused the country to become trapped in a “Chinese debt trap” by compelling President Yameen to change the Maldives democratic system into an authoritarian one and subsequently getting his government to accept Chinese loans and for China to work on developmental projects in Maldives with inflated prices.

“The price of the bridge [connecting Male’ to Hulhumale’], when we were in government, was quoted at 76 to 80 million dollars. But it is now built at 300 million dollars. Actually, the bridge price is, I believe, still not more than 100 million dollars. But the China Exim Bank has got a sovereign guarantee to the inflated price of 300 million.”

He said that China is using Maldives’ debt to force the island nation to refuse help from India, which has led to the government returning two helicopters gifted by India.