Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has called on the people to come out and say no on April 4 against the government's destruction of the Maldives' good governance system.

At a campaign event for the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in Kulhudhuffushi city last night (March 30), Solih said the people must think a lot before voting in the local council elections.

He said the people must assess the situation in the country after the 2023 presidential election.

"People change a government in the hope that it will provide better services than the previous one. However, two years and four months into this government, we see a completely different scenario," Solih said.

He highlighted some measures taken by President Mohamed Muizzu to dismantle the democratic system.

These include undermining the independence of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Elections Commission (EC), directly appointing the Chairpersons for independent commissions, using the anti-defection law to prevent MPs from voting freely in the parliament, undermining the power of people's representatives, removing Supreme Court justices and influencing the judiciary.

He also accused the government of trying to undermine the decentralization system by restricting the powers of the councils.

"He continued to destroy the entire system. He is dismantling the entire system of accountability. The next thing he did was to deprive your elected representatives of their power," Solih said.

He added that the referendum scheduled for April 4 to merge the presidential and parliamentary elections intends to restrict the people's rights.