Gayoom says "full support" with government amid coalition rift

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has picked a side in the dispute within the ruling coalition.

While Gayoom's party Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) is a coalition partner, he is one of the four leaders of the alliance together with Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim, Adhaalath Party's Imran Abdulla and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leader Mohamed Nasheed - who won against Gayoom in the country's first democratic elections in 2008. Once the biggest critics of each other, the four formed a coalition for the 2018 presidential elections, putting forth a single candidate from MDP, incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Recently, Nasheedrevealed difficulty supporting the Solih government, and accused Adhaalath Party of monopolizing the government. He made the comments in regards to the hate crime bill submitted to parliament by the government. Nasheed, who is the current speaker of parliament, said that the government has withdrawn support for its own bill following objection from "religious conservative parties" in the coalition. Prior to this, he had hinted the possibility of working with current opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and its leader former President Abdulla Yameen; who is accused of laundering millions of dollars from state coffers during his presidency.

In a comment to RaajjeMV, MRM leader Gayoom said that he and his party stand with the government and President Solih.

He added that the government will have MRM's "full support" in the future as well.

While Gayoom said this, Adhaalath has released astatement responding to Nasheed's allegationsas well. It 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".