President urges Gayoom to “stay out” of Maldives politics over safety fears
28 Dec 2010, 3:11 PM
Ahmed Nazeer
President Mohamed Nasheed has warned that it would not be wise for Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the nation’s former president, to return to the country for campaigning purposes after publicly announcing that he had given up on his political career.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) website reported that Nasheed had heard that Gayoom was returning to the Maldives for local elections campaigning and warned that ”it might cause history to return”, potentially endangering the former leader’s safety.
The comments have been condemned by some in the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), which was formerly led by Gayoom, as being spoken out of “fear” over the impact the former president may have on the elections.
Senior figures from the (DRP) last week told Minivan News that Gayoom would be returning to the Maldives to campaign for the party in the upcoming local council elections and had also been invited to stand once again for the presidency. However, Gayoom has not officially commented to the media or made a decision regarding these possible plans.
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