Maldives' ruling party on Wednesday filed a legal challenge to the result of last month's presidential elections.
Elections Commission has 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 incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's main political rivals including the now jailed former presidents Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Mohamed Nasheed along with Jumhoory Party leader and business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.
However, the ruling party has now claimed that the elections commission had rigged the elections and has been carrying out nightly protests demanding the commission to answer recent allegations.
President Yameen's legal team told local reporters that a constitutional dispute case had been filed in light of the concerns raised by his supporters over the vote.
"We reviewed the numerous complaints filed by president Yameen's supporters before deciding to file this challenge. So in light of that, president Yameen decided that he challenge must be filed for the rights of his supporters," president Yameen's lead lawyer Mohamed Saleem explained.
President Yameen himself had 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 and assured a smooth transition of power.
