MP Qasim Ibrahim has expressed his certainty that whichever candidate the joint opposition puts forth for the upcoming presidential elections will receive at least ‘eighty percent’ of all votes.

Qasim said this in a recorded message that was played at a joint opposition rally ongoing at his constituency and home island of Maamigilli in Alif Dhaal Atoll.

'Whoever our candidate is going to be, I am absolutely certain that he or she will receive 80 percent of all votes' says Qasim said.

He addressed his supporters at the rally to say that his work to establish a harmonious, earnest, and honest government has been ongoing for over thirty years.

In his speech, Qasim called on the government to release polticial prisoners and encouraged his supporters to remain ‘steadfast and true to their principals’.

He further said that the government has been ‘robbing citizens of their rights and unjustly penalizing the weak’, adding that this is the mark of an uncaring, callous, and deceitful government.

The parliamentarian, who was late last year sentenced to a jail term – being the third of four opposition leaders to have a jail sentence passed against him – on bribery allegations, said that we must all act within legal ambit, ‘no matter who we are’.