Male:
Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has asked the current President Mohamed Waheed to step down to enable Speaker to form a transition government.
In a statement today, Mr Nasheed said, "The events of the past year - the mass arrests, the police brutality, the politically motivated trials - demonstrate that Dr Waheed cannot be trusted to hold a free and fair election."
(Read full statement)Mr Nasheed, has sought refuge at the Indian High Commission in Male and, sources said, India has agreed to give him shelter there.
(Read: Nasheed seeks refuge in Indian embassy) Mr Nasheed was forced out of power in February last year in what he has described as a coup orchestrated by former ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Welcoming India's step seeking all political parties in the island country to exercise restrain ahead of the scheduled presidential polls in September this year, Mr Nasheed said, "The fate of Maldivian democracy hangs in the balance. The Maldivian people must not be robbed of their democratic right to elect a leader of their choosing."
President Nasheed called his ongoing trial "a politically motivated sham" and said the Hulhumale Magistrates Court was illegal and created "with the sole purpose of disqualifying me from standing in the presidential elections."
Mr Nasheed is charged with abusing his power as president after winning the first free elections in the country in 2008.