President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih appears to have put a lid on talk on changing the governing system after insisting that the system can only be changed via a public vote.

This comes after the Speaker of the Parliament and Mohamed Nasheed had sent a message to the President requesting he dissolve the current government and reinstate a parliamentary system where Nasheed would become the Prime Minister of the country.

Speaking on behalf of the President, his spokesperson Mohamed Mabrook confirmed that President Solih had indeed received the message from the Speaker regarding the change of the governing system.

Mabrook said that President Solih views that the current system can only be changed by a public vote as it was brought into force by a vote itself.

The proposal by the Speaker also suggested that the President forgo the 2023 presidential elections and bring the change in governing system next year.

Meanwhile, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom dismissed the talks of changing the governing system with a curtly worded tweet earlier.

Maumoon reminded that the current governing system was implemented after a vote from the public and that it cannot be changed with every whim.