Opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has reconsidered his earlier decision of accepting invite by Maldives National University (MNU) for a presidential debate.
State owned Public Service Media (PSM) has associated with MNU to host the presidential debate scheduled for early September.
Although Solih earlier expressed his interest of engaging in debate with ruling party presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen, the opposition candidate's campaign spokesperson Mariya Ahmed Didi on Thursday confirmed he is no longer interested in the PSM hosted debate.
According to Mariya Didi, Solih reconsidered his earlier decision following incumbent president Yameen's statement of showing 'no interest' on participating in a similar presidential debate hosted by RaajjeTV.
"This shows he [president Abdulla Yameen] lacks integrity, we assumed he will accept such an invitation regardless of the channel extending it. But if he gives a nod of approval for a specific channel and says no to the other, then we question the possibility of the debate's transparency," Mariya Didi said.
Mariya Didi also noted that the state run channel has failed in disclosing dates prior to the presidential debate, despite the opposition candidate requesting for it.
