No binding agreement on seat sharing: MDP Chairman

Maldives Democratic Party (MDP)'s Chairman Hassan Latheef declared on Saturday that the party has no signed documents regarding an agreement to share parliament seats within the ruling coalition.

Although a document regarding the seat sharing was signed on July 2018, During MDP's National Congress, Hassan stated that it should not be considered a standing contract, despite remaining parties in the coalition believing otherwise.

The document, which was recently leaked, depicts the signature of the chairman as well as current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the two leading MDP representatives, in the discussions preceding all agreements within the coalition regarding the distribution of parliamentary seats.

Hassan Latheef added that at the time, the document was signed in the best interests of the party.

Distribution of parliamentary seats according to the agreement;

MDP - 40 percent

Jumhooree Party (JP) - 25 percent

Adhaalath Party (AP) - 15 percent

Maumoon Reform Movement (MRM) - 20 percent

The document states that the agreement of party allocation of seats applies to the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2019, followed by the local council elections which are to be held in 2020.

Per the agreement of seat sharing, MDP is to contest for a total of 35 seats within the parliament; JP, AP and MRM with 22, 13 and 17 seats respectively.

The agreement stated that the document was signed in light of discussions made during the 20th meeting of MDP's 18/19 committee.

"We submitted the document to assess the opinion of other parties. Not all coalition parties agreed with it. For various reasons, some parties could not agree to it. Hence, this party has not signed any agreements," said Hassan, who chaired the national congress.

Affirming that certain agreements were made and that JP had proposed an agreement between the two parties, Hassan stressed that MDP had refused the proposal by stating that even at the time, the party had no interest in the commitment.

At the national congress of the party, MDP declared their intention to contest for all 87 constituencies in the upcoming parliamentary election. The resolution submitted by former President Mohamed Nasheed was passed by an overwhelming majority of 79 votes from a total of 80, in favour of the move.