Maldives' president elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Sunday insisted that he does not wish to leave any room to doubt the legality of his swearing in as the country's seventh president.
Deputy parliament speaker Moosa Manik had filed a motion to the parliament to decide on bringing forward the swearing in of Solih from November 17 to November 11.
In 2013, incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was sworn into office on November 17 after a marathon elections after the first round of elections was annulled by the country's top court.
Thee Supreme Court had cancelled the run-off and annulled the first round results in September 2013. A re-run of the first round was held on November 9 and the run-off was planned for the following day due to the need to have a new President in place by November 11.
However, the run-off was again postponed to November 16 by the Supreme Court after Yameen claimed he needed more time to campaign. Yameen eventually won the run-off against the now self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed and was sworn in the next day.
Speaking during the debate on the motion on Sunday, the Hinnavaru lawmaker Solih said the parliament remains divided on the exact date of the swearing in.
Solih insisted that the parliament must find out if the then president Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik had been serving six extra days of his own term or six days of his successor's term in office.
"I believe that we need to discuss this issue broadly and reach a mutually agreeable consensus. I definitely don't wish to do anything that contradicts the constitution. And I definitely don't want anyone to say that I took the oath of office in violation of the constitution," Solih said urging his fellow lawmakers to consider all aspects surrounding the conundrum before making a collective decision.
