No MDP agreement to endorse governance system

It has been disclosed that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) did not enter into any agreements with The Democrats to support the public referendum.

Although Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed said that the ruling party agreed with The Democrats to back it for the referendum of the party did not side with any presidential candidates, MDP denied existence of such an agreement between the parties.

"I was informed that MDP had said that it will support The Democrats for the referendum resolution if the party did not choose a side in the runoff election," Nasheed said who also added that MDP acquired a written letter confirming the agreement from The Democrats.

Nasheed said the ruling party however, had not replied to the letter.

Despite Nasheed' statements, The Democrats originally demanded to hold a public referendum to elect a governance system, which the party conditioned to hold before the runoff election.

The party demanded from Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) to give written detail giving particulars about The Democrats' role and extent of its involvement in a PPM-led government.

The Democrats announced it had not received a response from either of the two major parties resulting in its decision to remain neutral for the runoff election.

Interim Chairperson of The Democrats and West-Henveiru MP Hassan Latheef wrote a letter to MDP Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail confirming of the party's decision not to support the ruling party as it had not agreed to hold the referendum on September 28.

The agreements Nasheed highlighted were not detailed in the letter, while MDP Deputy Chairperson Ibrahim Waheed said the party had not received any additional letters from The Democrats.

The Democrats faced defeat in this year's presidential election as its candidate Ilyas Labeeb came third in the first round. Following their defeat, the party launched efforts to switch governance to a parliamentary system.

The party's efforts seem to have encountered more obstacles than anticipated, especially after president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced his endorsement of the presidential system on Tuesday.

During MDP's national council meeting, president Solih formally announced his intention to launch efforts to maintain the presidential system if the referendum resolution is put into action.