President: Those in electoral positions need to be from PPM, MDA

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has declared that it was imperative those in electoral positions in charge of executing developmental plans by the government are from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and its coalition partner Maldives Development Alliance (MDA).

President Yameen was chief guest of the function held in Dharubaaruge last Sunday night to officially hand out tickets to MDA candidates who will be competing in the upcoming local council elections.

In his speech, the President declared that electoral positions of power such as Speaker of People’s Majlis needed to be filled by representatives of the ruling party, and that harboring any other mentality would fracture any coalition.

Jumhoory Party (JP) had been part of the government coalition when its leader Qasim Ibrahim ran for Speaker of People’s Majlis. The decision had led to a rift between the government and JP and the eventual disintegration of the partnership altogether.

President Yameen said that opposition political parties formed coalitions only to rally against the government. He said that opposition coalitions worked no other way as every party wanted to rule the country.

“They are all people who want to get elected President of the Republic. The State budget, for certain, cannot accommodate three or four presidents within one term. So that’s not possible. So they can never stand on one ground,” he said.

He said that democracy was the popular choice of the people, and that the democratic system in an Islamic country was different from that in a non-Islamic country.

“The democratic system is when legislature is passed in accordance with the popular choice of people. There is no room to say this isn’t a democracy here,” said President Yameen.

He said that people needed to vote for PPM and MDA candidates for local councils as it was only the government coalition which had a clear vision towards development to local communities and the country as a whole.