Former President and the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s presidential primary candidate Mohamed Nasheed has said that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will not be able to form a coalition to win next year's presidential election. President Nasheed made the statement at a special rally held at Sultan Park on Wednesday to officially launch his primary campaign.
Speaking at the rally, Nasheed said the 2018 presidential election was won by a coalition with the Adhaalath Party, the Jumhooree Party, and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom. However, there is no chance of President Solih forming a coalition in the upcoming presidential election, he said. The only reason that other parties agreed to form a coalition in the 2018 presidential election was that they had no other option, he said.
"Today, all the political leaders except President Yameen are free. In 2018, they formed a coalition because they did not have that freedom. So, a coalition is no longer a choice today," Nasheed said.
Nasheed said President Solih winning the 2018 election was not a personal political victory for the president as it was won through forming a coalition. If President Solih wins the MDP presidential ticket in the upcoming primary, it would therefore be his first time contesting a presidential election, he said.
"If President Solih contests this election, it will be his first time contesting the election. He is expected to get the same low votes as new candidates. That is a mere 20 percent," he said, indirectly mocking the President.
President Nasheed further said that if President Solih contests the presidential election as an MDP candidate, the MDP will get less percentage of the vote. This was the main reason NAsheed decided to contest the primary, he said.
Although Nasheed has said President Solih would fail both in the MDP primary and the presidential election, President Solih is confident that he would win the elections by large margins.
