President Mohamed Nasheed resigns

Mohamed Nasheed has resigned from his post of President today, following pressure from a large fraction of the public.

The protests began when he ordered the arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed. The unrest became more serious with every night passing night, and led up to last night’s final episode which ended with the resignation of the President.

In the speech made to announce his resignation, President Nasheed said that if he remained as President, the country and its people will suffer great damages. He cited future pressure to Maldives from the outside world due to the current unrest in Male’, as a reason for his resignation.

“The way I see it, the country and its people will suffer great damages if I remain as President. I have therefore decided to resign from the post of President of the Maldives,” he said in his speech.

He said that if he is to continue to govern Maldives, it would mean that he would be forced to exercise power and that this would be damaging to the Maldivian people. He said that he believes that the Maldives will benefit from the efforts he has made as President in the past three years.

To end his speech, Nasheed said that he wishes for the perpetual existence of democracy in the country.

Opposition groups began protests again President Nasheed subsequent to the illegal arrest of the Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed.