Former President and current Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has stated that he would never renounce his friendship with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Speaking to press on Wednesday, the former president declared that although he had threatened to withdraw support for the incumbent administration due to differences of opinion and despite his alliance with the “president” weakening, his bonds with Solih would forever remain the same.

Nasheed went on to reveal that he has never imagined a day where he would stop speaking to Solih.

He stated that his efforts to introduce a parliamentary system into the Maldives, will be carried out with discussions with the president and that he believes this is the correct time for it.

Nasheed believes great things will happen for the Maldives, should it fall under a parliamentary system of governance.

Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is currently working on collecting signatures to submit a petition calling to speed up amendments to the Maldives constitution in regard to introducing a parliamentary system.

Nasheed, who was targeted in an assassination attempt on May 6, returned to Maldives on Monday after nearly five months abroad. The attack, which saw a remote-controlled IED explode near his residence in the center of Malé City, caused serious injuries to the ex-president who was rushed to the hospital after being knocked to the ground by the blast. While he left to Germany on May 13, he travelled to United Kingdom after being referred to specialists there, on July 2.