Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed called on Saturday for a referendum to test the legitimacy of the new government which he accused of coming to power in a military coup. Nasheed, who met Sri Lankan leaders and Colombo-based diplomats in a bid to drum up support for his pro-democracy campaign, said he was ready to face a plebiscite on the legitimacy of his successor. “The referendum question can be framed to determine the legitimacy of the (new) government,” Nasheed told reporters at the end of his overnight visit to Sri Lanka, his first travel abroad after he was replaced on February 7. Nasheed has insisted that he was forced to step down after some 300 soldiers, backed by Salafist Islamic radicals and local businessmen, staged a mutiny that capped three weeks of anti-government protests.
