President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has won over the support of the people with unprecedented development, stability and progress -- and looks likely to win re-election in 2018, former main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) chairperson Moosa Manik admitted Wednesday.
Speaking during a program on government aligned Channel 13, the deputy parliament speaker admitted that the three year tenure of the MDP government under former president Mohamed Nasheed had failed to match the pace of development brought about during the three years of the current regime.
"If you look at the last three years, we can see how swiftly mega development projects are ongoing. The people have acknowledged that. If I'm being totally honest, I'd have to say the speed of development has been much quicker in the past three years than it was in the three years we were in power," the outspoken lawmaker said.
Manik said Nasheed had made a sincere effort to change the Maldives for the better but later got "distracted."
"To be fair, president Nasheed in his first year did try. But even then we didn't have the same drive we see now. So other distractions worked against us in the end."
Manik further admitted that president Yameen's government remains superior and has continued to execute his constitutional responsibility with speed and efficiency.
"There's a certain art to ruling a country. President Yameen does it perfectly. President Yameen brings development at great speed. He has brought much needed peace and stability to the country. He has maintained rule of law. This is reality and its a reality people have now come to acknowledge and admire," he explained.
"Now the next step is the election where we would really get to see how much the people have accepted these facts. When we look closely, we would see why Nasheed lost it all in just three years. If we had the same spirit, we wouldn't have lost the presidency so quickly. The people in truth, decided to go with president Yameen because Nasheed failed."
Manik also admitted that there was no longer a reason for the people to come out on the streets in protest or overthrow the government.
Manik has fallen out with MDP and was subsequently dismissed from the party for breaking a party whip line during a parliamentary vote. However, the elections commission had later reversed the decision.
He has since publicly criticized MDP and Nasheed.
