Adhaalath says "selfish" Nasheed trying to achieve own political goals

Adhaalath Party (AP) has called Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed "selfish" after he accused the party of monopolizing the government.

While AP is one of three coalition partners of main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the former president made serious allegations against the party in an open letter published on Saturday.

Accusing Adhaalath of monopolizing President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's decisions, Nasheed said this led the government withdrawing support for its own hate crime bill. Without mentioning any names, the former president said that this was following the objection of "conservative religious parties who are part of the political alliance".

AP condemned the statement and said that Nasheed's "false, inaccurate and rhetorical statement" was an attempt to achieve his "selfish political goals under the guise of freedom, equality and economic prosperity".

The party also said that the statement portrays the people of Maldives "as extremists". Nasheed is in letter claimed that it was MDP's "progressive candidate" that won the 2018 presidential elections adding that the people “did not vote for religious extremists who would deny their liberty and remove the things they love most from society”.

Noting that it had raised concerns after a call for public comments to the amendment submitted to the Penal Code, AP said it had also expressed support to "a properly consulted bill that abides by international guidelines, the Maldivian Constitution and the principles of Islam".

Adhaalath said the bill did not comply with UN guidelines on preventing hate crimes, nor recommendations of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, nor the obligations upon the Maldives as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the bill’s infringement on the freedom of expression and its contradiction with the Constitution of Maldives and its contradiction with principles of Islam.

Further noting that the amendment was also rejected by the People's Majlis where MDP holds a super-majority, AP said "it is false, to the extent of delusion to claim that this is the minority view".

While Nasheed indicated the possibility of withdrawing his support for the government if it cannot support its own bill, Adhaalath Party applauded the government for the "meaningful steps towards solving the issue of violent extremism in the Maldives and for being the first government in the Maldives to give the issue top priority".

The AP further went on to state that the only reason Adhaalath joined the opposition coalition in 2015 was to fight against "against tyranny, arbitrary detention, injustice and corruption".

While the opposition coalition then decided to put forth a single candidate for the 2018 presidential elections, MDP's candidate Solih was selected and ended up beating then-President Abdulla Yameen by a wide margin.

Nasheed who admitted to having "achieved political progress with the support of coalition partners" said that they won because the people voted "for MDP and its principles, love for freedom and equality".

Responding to this, Adhaalath Party in its statement said the people of Maldives "voted for the principles of peace, justice and a pledge to uproot corruption".

The party concluded by assuring it will remain on its mission "to ensure and defend the values and principles that it was formed upon and shall not be deterred by the smear campaigns of a few individuals".

While Adhaalath Party is one of the ruling coalition partners, its leader Imran Abdulla is the country's Minister of Home Affairs.