COLOMBO: The Maldives has asked a pro-democracy organisation headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to help revamp its political system, the government said on Saturday (August 21), just days after mass protests to demand faster democratic reform.

The idyllic Indian Ocean island chain turned to the National Democratic Institute because of its experience in promoting democracy, government spokesman Dr. Ahmed Shaheed said from the capital, Male. Albright is the institute's chairman.

"The National Democratic Institute will assist the government to establish the necessary governance and legal structure required to establish a stable multi-party system in the shortest time possible," the government said in a statement.

President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving leader, vowed in June to ease his stranglehold on power after human rights groups blasted the rights record of his administration and public anger boiled over last year.

Gayoom, who has been in power for 26 years, has promised to limit the term of the presidency, allow opposition parties -- which are effectively prohibited under the constitution -- to operate and to bolster the judiciary.

But critics say he is dragging his feet. Thousands of protesters took to the streets last week to demand change.

Reform activists are keeping a low profile in Male after a crackdown during last week's protest, but have warned there will be more protests in the months ahead unless Gayoom makes good on his reform agenda.

Tourists on the pristine atolls dotted along 500 miles (800 km) in the Indian Ocean and famed for some of the world's best diving barely noticed the protests. Tour operators say the archipelago's mainstay tourism industry has been unaffected by the unrest.

Courtesy Reuters