U.S.-based Group Calls for concrete action on democratic reforms

Following a three-week visit to the Maldives to assess the political climate in the archipelago the Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) has called upon Maldivian President Gayyoom to “take concrete and prompt action” on democratic reforms above and beyond what the leader promised in June 2004.

A four-man delegation traveled throughout the Maldives at the invitation of the government and with funding from the United National Development Programme in October and met with a wide group of government representatives, pro-democracy activists, business and religious leaders and members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).