The recently ousted president of Maldives on Wednesday pressed for new elections and urgent action on climate change as he took his often lonely campaign to a top-watched US television show.
Mohamed Nasheed, promoting a new film on his fight against climate change, appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman," where the host started by offering the audience a quick introduction to the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Nasheed, who became Maldives' first democratically elected leader following multi-party elections in October 2008, insisted his resignation last month was due to a coup by supporters of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
"We want a free and fair election. We want your government to back that. We were shocked to see that the United States government was so quick in recognizing" the new government, Nasheed said.
Nasheed has said that he was ousted after some 300 soldiers, backed by Islamic radicals and local businessmen, staged a mutiny that capped three weeks of anti-government protests.
The United States, the European Union and India have all called for early elections. But the new administration of President Mohamed Waheed says an early vote is not possible unless all parties agree to amend the constitution.
Nasheed was visiting the United States for the release of the documentary "The Island President," an account of his diehard international campaign to fight global warming.