Main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Tuesday reiterated that its leader and former president Mohamed Nasheed would contest the presidential elections next year and defeat incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
Nasheed is presently ineligible to contest due to a 13-year prison sentence on a controversial terrorism charge. He was found guilty in early 2015 of ordering the arbitrary arrest and detention of a sitting judge. Nasheed was granted asylum in the UK in May 2016 after he was authorised to seek medical treatment in an internationally brokered deal.
Speaking during a program on opposition aligned Raajje TV late Tuesday, North-Henveiru MP Abdulla Shahid said the people would "demand Nasheed's name on the ballot paper."
The former parliament speaker alleged that the incumbent government had only built on the foundations laid by Nasheed during his tenure. Shahid said the people want peace and stability in the country which president Yameen has not been able to bring about with violent crime on the rise.
"The people want a proper transportation network. Nasheed started that process. These are the reasons why the people would give Nasheed that chance. And he will win with an overwhelming majority. The people would say no to president Yameen in the elections," Shahid said.
Nasheed's ineligibility and in the face of mounting government authority, he had inked a historic pact with his arch nemesis former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and other opposition party leaders to put up a united bid to defeat president Yameen.
The now united opposition is now engaged in discussions to field a single candidate against president Yameen.
Shahid however, said MDP would do whatever it took to ensure Nasheed's candidacy and warned president Yameen to give up his dream of a second term in office come November.
