United Nations (UN) have sought the names of the opposition representatives for the all party talks, self exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed said Tuesday.
After a meeting with UN envoy to Maldives, Nasheed said on Twitter that the envoy had asked main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to send the names of its representatives for the all party talks directly to the UN.
"UN's view is for MDP to send the names of their delegates for all Party talks to the UN," Nasheed's Tweet read.
The all party talks had been led by the Commonwealth and the government's decision to leave the now 52 member bloc last year had left question marks over dialogue between the main political parties in the archipelago.
Maldives left the Commonwealth citing unfair and unjust treatment weeks after the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) – the enforcement mechanism of the Commonwealth – threatened to suspend Maldives from the council at its next meeting in March if effective steps were not taken to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the archipelago .
Government however, had said the party talks remains on track but explained that the sit-downs have been delayed as the parties are yet to name representatives for the talks.
Government had first, demanded all political parties to have the representatives for the talks passed by the councils of the respective parties.
Days after, the government had informed all political parties that it would not allow convicted and jailed politicians in the talks.
The pre-conditions were criticized by the opposition parties, especially MDP and religiously conservative Adhaalath Party (AP), looking to free their jailed leaders through the talks.
In addition to the Commonwealth, the United Nations had also initiated proxy talks after the main opposition parties refused to sit-down with government demanding the release of all jailed political leaders as a pre-condition for the talks.
Nasheed's comments comes a day after a senior minister had said reconciliation talks with the opposition are not necessary.
In an interview with The Wire, Maldivian minister of fisheries and agriculture Mohamed Shainee – who was the government’s lead representative for talks with the opposition last year –indicated that Malé did not see a “situation” to warrant an enhanced level of “engagement” with the opposition.
He, however, insisted that the government was willing to talk with the opposition “without any condition”, putting the onus on the other side for bringing a “viable solution” that could allow Nasheed to stand for elections next year.
