Former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Tuesday urged his half brother and outgoing Maldives president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom to accept the outcome of the recently concluded presidential elections for the sake of the people and nation.
Elections Commission on Sunday announced the official results which confirmed opposition alliance presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as the seventh president of the archipelago with a staggering 58.4 percent of the votes.
Solih had been backed by Yameen's main political rivals including the now jailed former presidents Gayoom, Mohamed Nasheed along with Jumhoory Party leader and business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.
Gayoom who had recently been released on bail had met with the president elect Solih on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gayoom pointed out that the will of the people was very clear and the opposition alliance would not allow president Yameen to challenge the obvious result of the elections and plunge the country into instability and chaos.
"To protect the will of the people is the duty of the entire country. The duty of even the president himself. It's the duty of state institutions and security forces. Because we are all servants of the people," Gayoom who ruled the country for three decades before he lost the country's first democratic elections in 2008 to Nasheed stressed.
Gayoom's plea came after president Yameen urged his supporters to demand the country's electoral watchdog to answer the numerous allegations of vote rigging that had surfaced after president Yameen had accepted the result last Monday and assured a smooth transition of power.
Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) meanwhile had vowed nightly protests against the members of Elections Commission which had "robbed" the crunch elections.
