Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was unable to win a second term in office due to his 'ego' in believing that the party could secure a win without former President Mohamed Nasheed, the MDP administration's Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has said.
In the competitive race for the post of MDP Chairperson, Ameer, who was known as a loyal associate of Solih in the last administration, is this time backing Nasheed.
Speaking at a campaign rally in GDh. Gahdhoo, Ameer's island of origin, he said that the party could have won the 2023 presidential elections had they opted to work alongside Nasheed.
"I was amongst the first group of people who went to talk to Nasheed at the time. We all discussed and hugged and had confirmed the deal," Ameer said.
However, this was then followed by a meeting amongst then-government leaders, who entirely changed the script, Ameer said. At this meeting, the overarching spirit had been to proceed without Nasheed, with those attending asked to speculate on how many votes Nasheed could attract, he said.
According to Ameer, most of those at the meeting estimated that Nasheed could bring between 3000 to 5000 votes. Fayyaz had retorted that Nasheed could bring closer to 15,000 to 20,000 votes and had urged those present to not underestimate the former president.
In the 2023 presidential elections, Nasheed's breakaway party, The Democrats, presented Ilyas Labeeb as a candidate, who garnered approximately 15,000 votes.
"By the end of the meeting, I was also aware that the decision was to proceed on our own, without Nasheed. Even then, we, Fayyaz Ismail, stressed that this was the saddest decision of our lives, that they would all regret it," Ameer said.
"We had the chance even then, but our ego led us to defeat in the 2023 elections."
Nasheed posted a video of Ameer's remarks on X today, stating that he had done all he could to work with MDP during the 2023 elections.
Meetings were held between MDP and The Democrats after Solih's loss in the first round of the presidential election. However, The Democrats ultimately decided not to back either candidate in the second round. The party also went on to hold deliberations with the government after President Dr Mohamed Muizzu was elected.
Political rifts between former presidents Solih and Nasheed arose early into the last MDP administration. Nasheed claims that Solih stopped talking to him. Solih, however, maintains that he had been working to maintain coalition ties.
Although Solih and Nasheed are on rival sides in the MDP Chairperson election, the two leaders have been working together as well in recent months.
Following Nasheed's return to MDP, the two leaders met to set aside their differences and work together with renewed spirit. The two are also working on opposition efforts with former President Abdulla Yameen now.
