Nasheed: I’m ready to rejoin MDP

Parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed says he is ready to rejoin the MDP – a party he led until he quit it in June to join the Democrats – if the MDP’s national council support the decision.

He made the remark in a message to MDP’s chairperson Fayyaz Ismail, who shared the message on the party’s national council WhatsApp group on Sunday.

In his message, Nasheed said he was ready to rejoin the MDP if he receives the support of at least 50 percent of the national council.

Though it is unclear if he responded to Nasheed, Fayyaz said he was sharing the message in the group for their consideration.

Nasheed left the MDP on June 21, after months of tension between him and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih – to whom he lost the party’s presidential ticket to.

He signed with the Democrats, a new party founded by his supporters who also left the MDP, on July 13.

The day he signed for the new party, Nasheed criticized President Solih and vowed to “dismantle” MDP.

The Democrats had run against MDP in the recent presidential election. The party placed third in the first round, and was heavily courted by the MDP for a potential coalition deal for the runoff.

However, Democrats decided against backing either candidate in the runoff, which President Solih went on to lose.