The Maldives president Mohammed Waheed Hassan has said the next presidential elections will be held in July 2013, despite calls for a poll to be held before the end of the year.

According to the BBC, Hassan says that July 2013 is the earliest date allowed by the constitution.

He had previously intended to hold the elections in November 2013, Bernama reports.

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Both the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led by former president Mohamed Nasheed and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) had been pushing for an election to be held before the end of the year.

Pakistan's International News Network explains that the Maldives has been in political turmoil since Nasheed stood down as president in February this year.  He claims he was held at gunpoint and ousted in a military-backed coup.

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Responding to Hassan's announcement the MDP has insisted that he must resign, describing his rise to power as "illegal", Associated Press writes.

"This is exactly what we did not want," Nasheed's spokesman, Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, is quoted as saying. "Why doesn't he step down and let the people decide?"

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