President appeals for coalition

President Yameen Abdul Gayoom has appealed for the support of the government coalition parties represented in the parliament, in passing the State Budget for 2014.

President Yameen said this while speaking at the ceremony held this evening for former president Dr Mohamed Waheed to join ruling party Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

“If the parties included in the coalition start making individual decisions on how much finds to assign to projects, the government cannot work towards a common goal,” President Yameen said.

He highlighted that the purpose of forming a coalition is to work together, and for smaller parties to follow the leading party’s decisions.

“In this first phase, when the government sends such documents, if the coalition parties start criticising and attempt to make changes to the documents, I don’t see how we can do anything beneficial for the people,” he said.

He further pointed out that the people will question the government – and not the parliament - if the government fails to work for their betterment.

The parliament will vote on the State Budget for 2014 on Sunday.