The five years since the contentious transfer of power in 2012, Maldives has seen a consistent decline into decadence, the North Mahchangoalhi MP Mariya Ahmed Didi said on Tuesday night.

The ‘coup d’état’ toppled the nation’s first democratically elected government and is not a wound that would ever heal, MP Mariya continued.

"It caused a chain of bitter events, from a government with no public support coming into office, trample the constitution, erode laws and court rulings, and the wanton manipulation of an entire election" Mariya said.

MP Mariya echoed the opposition rhetoric that Nasheed resigned from power under duress, and that the military and members of government had a hand in applying said duress. She said many people had been injured in the violence that followed the political turbulence and these people have yet to see retribution. 

She further said that President Yamin Abdul Gayoom’s presidential address on Monday, in which he relished the past year’s economic and political gain – having given figures of economic expansion and claiming that citizens’ consensus, both internal and external, towards the Maldives has been positive.

He also said that developments had been made to combat erosion, establish better water and sewer systems, and improve housing conditions.

MP Mariya refuted this, and said that nothing he said in the address had been encouraging.  She noted that none of President Yamin’s campaign pledges had been talked about, and while he had promised to increase opportunities for individuals with disabilities, there has been nothing done towards attaining this.