Self exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed Saturday insisted that the opposition parties must unite and nominate a single candidate to cause an upset against incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in the next presidential elections in 2018.
Nasheed was jailed on terror charges after he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison over the arbitrary detention of a sitting judge while he was president.
Nasheed now lives in self imposed exile in the UK after he was allowed to leave to Britain on medical leave in an internationally brokered deal in January last year.
The former president reiterated that Maldives would not be able to hold a free and fair elections in two years time.
"I don't think we will have a free and fair election as things stand now. So we will have to have the whole opposition together and come out with a single candidate," Nasheed told AFP during a visit to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Nasheed appeared to have had changed his stance over a push to engineer the premature ouster of president Yameen recently and again hinted that the opposition was not looking for a change in government immediately.
In the past he has accused Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the Maldives for 30 years of being behind his downfall.
But in September he indicated he wanted to bury the hatchet with Gayoom, amid a rift between the former strongman leader and his half-brother, current President Yameen.
"We are still working on it. What we would really like to see is a free and fair election -- not necessarily changing the government now," he told AFP.
Nasheed also said he would return to the Maldives in time for the presidential elections despite the risks.
"I don't think I can return home without risks. I don't think there will ever be a time for that."
