Maldives opposition threatens to boycott election

Colombo, Feb 19 (AP) Maldives' main opposition party will boycott a presidential election scheduled in September unless it is held under a transitional government, a party spokesman said today. Ahmed Naseem, a former foreign minister and a spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic Party, said the party doesn't trust President Mohammed Waheed to hold a fair election. He said the party wants a transitional government led by the speaker of Parliament for two months as allowed under the constitution of the Indian Ocean nation. "An interim government and then elections. Nothing else. If these arrangements are not made, the MDP will not participate in the election," Naseem told reporters in Colombo in neighbouring Sri Lanka. Maldives is scheduled to hold its second multiparty presidential election on September 7. The country's former president, MDP leader Mohamed Nasheed, has taken refuge in the Indian embassy since last Wednesday, when a court ordered his arrest for not appearing to face charges that he illegally ordered the arrest of a senior judge while president. Nasheed says the charges are politically motivated to disqualify him from running in the presidential election. (AP) ASK 02192227 NNNN