During the last hearing of the case on March 6 the three judge bench ruled to delay the by four weeks on request by the defence. Nasheed's legal team had sent a letter to the Prosecutor General's (PG) office where the prosecution was asked to delay the ex-president's trial by four weeks or put off the trial until after the presidential election later this year. As the letter had put down two periods by which to delay the trial, when the Judges bench had asked prosecutors of their stand, prosecutors said they had no reservations in delaying the trial by four weeks and had no objection to putting off the trial until after the election. However, as the Elections Commission is yet to announce Nasheed as a presidential candidate for the elections, the Judges bench had said it will not decide on delaying the trial until after the election at this time. Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has maintained that Nasheed’s trial is a politically motivated sham designed to disqualify him from the upcoming presidential election slated for September 7.