Chairperson of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has reiterated that the Joint Opposition will back one candidate in the 2018 Presidential Elections, adding that the party will “soon” begin working on a suitable manifesto.

Speaking on RaajjeTV’s Fala Surukhee programme on Saturday night, Hassan Latheef responded to government officials’ claims that the joint opposition will be unable to unite behind a single candidate for the elections slated for later this year, saying that the delay in announcing a candidate was due to the contentious state of emergency declared by incumbent President Abdulla Yameen.

He said that the people would not have wanted to hear about the presidential elections while “there were more urgent issues to be discussed” at the time.

Noting that officials from the Joint Opposition have been holding meetings everyday “for over a year,” Latheef said that there is no reason for them to not be able to nominate a single candidate.

He added that while things “may not always go the way it is planned,” that the international community has been, and will continue to provide assistance, in order to ensure that the presidential elections are “free, fair and transparent”.

Furthermore, Latheef said that his party will soon begin work to create a manifesto, which will include their opinions regarding uniting behind a single candidate.