Maldives President Yameen Abdul Gayoom (pictured above) said on Saturday that he was ready to hold early presidential elections to allow voters to decide who should lead their country, AP reported. Gayoom’s term ends in November.

His move comes after the country’s Supreme Court ordered all political prisoners – including exiled former President Mohammed Nasheed who is Gayoom’s main rival – to be released and retried.

Nasheed was the country’s first democratically-elected leader, who has been living in exile in Britain and has been campaigning to have his political rights restored. On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed cases against him and nine others. The court ruled that their trials violated the constitution and international law.

On Saturday, Gayoom fired second police chief in as many days, AP reported. On Friday, a police chief was dismissed after he said the police department would uphold the supreme Court’s order.

While Gayoom said his government was in discussions with the Supreme Court and the validity of the ruling is yet to be decided, the island nation’s attorney general said on Sunday that the top court was trying to impeach Gayoom for not yet obeying its order to release opposition leaders, Reuters reported.

Attorney-General Mohamed Anil asked all national bodies and defence units to disregard any Supreme Court ruling on impeaching Gayoom saying, “We have received information that things might happen that will lead to a national security crisis.”

Meanwhile, people protested on the streets of Male against Gayoom for refusing to follow the court’s ruling, ANI reported. The spokesperson of the joint opposition in Maldives said that they had submitted a no-confidence motion for the second time against the attorney general, prosecutor general, the home minister and the defence minister for refusing to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling. Ahmed Mahloof claimed that a few MPs who were in exile and had returned on Sunday were arrested at the airport.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has urged the Maldivian government to exercise restraint while responding to its protesting citizens. “CHRI welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate 12 Members of Parliament and views this as a positive, necessary step towards ensuring free and fair elections in the Maldives,” said Sanjoy Hazarika, CHRI’s international director.

The human rights group said implementing the court’s order could be an important move “towards restoring rule of law and constitutionalism in the Maldives”. CHRI said it continued to support democratic governance and the separation of powers between the political executive and the judiciary.

What is the conflict?

Nasheed resigned in 2012 after public protests against his decision to arrest a senior judge. In 2013, he lost the presidential election to Gayoom. Two years later, Nasheed was handed a 13-year prison sentence for ordering the judge’s arrest. But, he later fled to Britain, where he received asylum.

Most of the president’s other political rivals, who had not gone in exile, were also jailed.