President: No party has done anything to warrant dissolution of coalition

No political party in the government coalition is yet to take any action to warrant the dissolution of the coalition alliance, says Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Speaking during a press conference at the President’s Office this Thursday afternoon, Solih expressed confidence the government coalition will not unravel.

“To date, I have not seen anything to create conflict within the coalition,” said Solih.

Solih said that deciding to run for the upcoming parliamentary elections separately, on behalf of respective parties, was no reason for the coalition to unravel.

‘As we have not been able to agree upon the previously discussed plan for the parliamentary elections, each party is working on winning the number of seats they want. MDP is working on this. And I believe JP is doing the same as well,” said Solih.

“I don’t believe this is reason enough for the coalition to unravel,” said Solih.

Solih said that though he had a separate agreement with JP regarding the parliamentary elections, he made no similar agreement with any other political party.

He stressed he wanted the next set of lawmakers elected to the Parliament to be dominated by members of the government coalition.

Despite Solih’s reaffirmation of his commitment to the coalition, the decision by MDP to contest for all 87 parliament seats had sparked conflict between MDP and JP.

The announcement of the decision on December 1, 2018 followed weeks of heated exchanges of words between Qasim and former Maldivian President and Leader of MDP, Mohamed Nasheed.

Qasim, in a tweet on January 18, accused MDP of kicking JP to the curb as soon as it gained power.

“MDP has once again kicked JP to the curb once they gained power. JP has to play beggar again. JP is ready to negotiate with any party which wishes to work together with JP to contest for parliamentary seats. In Sha Allah,” wrote Qasim in his tweet, announcing JP was ready for alliances outside the coalition.