Coalition won’t split-up, government won’t topple: Nasheed

Former president Mohamed Nasheed stated on Thursday that there are no problems threatening the dissolution of the ruling coalition, and that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government will not fall.

There were disputes within the coalition after Maldivian Democratic party (MDP) announced that they will be contesting in every constituency during the upcoming parliamentary elections in April. The leader of Jumhooree Party, Qasim Ibrahim, has been throwing heated statements at MDP and the party's leader Nasheed, stating that the decision violated the seat-sharing agreement within the coalition.

Qasim also accused Nasheed of trying to overthrow President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government, on Wednesday night.

Following Qasim’s accusations, Nasheed spoke on local television station Raajje TV’s “Fashaairu” programme, highlighting that the ruling coalition was an agreement made from “the bottom of [their] hearts”. He further stated that it was an agreement for the Cabinet, state-run companies and people in political positions to run the government together.

“It’s running smoothly. The government is running. The ministries are running. The ministers of Jumhooree Party and Adhaalath Party and MRM are working together. I don’t see any problem with the coalition”, the president of MDP said.

However, Nasheed said that the coalition contesting in the parliament elections would be unfair for Maldivian citizens.

“For example, I have to agree that a certain constituency will not have a certain MDP candidate. On top of that, we have to say all our members have to vote for a candidate from JP. That is not fair for our members or the Maldivian people at all".

Nasheed further insisted that the people should get the chance to vote for any political ideology and political party they wanted.

“That is the whole point of a multi-party system”, he noted.

He added that discussions were continuously being held between coalition leaders, and that there was no possibility for the dissolution of the coalition or the fall of the government.

While Nasheed has defended MDP's decision to run for all the seats in parliament, the original coalition agreement included all the parties contesting in the parliamentary elections together as one alliance.