Prominent ruling party lawmaker has rebutted opposition statements regarding Progressive Party of Maldives' decision over presidency ticket.
Deputy leader and Fonadhoo constituency lawmaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla reciprocated to former PPM member Mohamed Ameeth's statement regarding the party's misconduct to grant incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom presidency ticket without a primary.
Ameeth criticized PPM's move asserting that it violated the party's regulations. Following his comments Abdulla responded via Twitter taunting the opposition when he said that opposition do not reserve the rights to decide conclusions for PPM and it was exclusive to party council and its members.
Meanwhile PPM parliamentary group leader and Vilimale' constituency MP had also mocked the opposition through his tweets regarding the issue. He had attempted to provoke the opposition stating that they should "avoid challenging and instead elect their own candidate."
The ruling party's Vilufushi constituency lawmaker Riyaz Rasheed had also shared similar sentiments over the issue.
According to the party's regulations the presidency ticket is granted to the candidate who musters the maximum amount of votes through a internal primary where multiple interested candidates can compete. The rules of PPM also cite that a successful candidate of the party who had completed a five year term as president of Maldives can run for a second term without a primary if the party's council agree on it.
