Mohamed Nasheed

Mohamed Nasheed (Dhivehi: މުހައްމަދު ނަޝީދު; born 17 May 1967) is a Maldivian politician, human rights and environmental activist, who served as the fourth President of the Maldives from 2008 to 2012. He was the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and one of the founders of the Maldivian Democratic Party.

In the 2008 presidential election, Nasheed was elected as the candidate of the first opposition coalition defeating President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled the Maldives as President for 30 continuous years. Nasheed assumed office on 11 November 2008.

On 7 February 2012, Nasheed resigned as president under disputed circumstances, following weeks of protests by the opposition, which had then been joined by a majority of military and police forces. The next day Nasheed stated that he had been forced to resign "at gunpoint" by police and army officers, and that the protesters had joined with "powerful networks" of Gayoom loyalists to force his resignation in a coup d'état. Nasheed's successor, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who had been a 2003 political appointee of President Maumoon Gayoom, denied these claims and stated that the transfer of power was voluntary and constitutional. The Maldives' Commission of National Inquiry reported that it had found no evidence to support Nasheed's version of events.