Former Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Aslam has said that it is unlikely that President Abdulla Yameen will give anyone the chance to run in this year’s presidential election if he prevents former President Mohamed Nasheed from doing so.

Speaking at Nasheed’s campaign rally in GDh Thinadhoo on Saturday night, Aslam said that everyone is asking whether Nasheed can run in the election.

Aslam said that there is no law preventing Nasheed from running and that both the Supreme Court and the United Nations (UN) has stated that he can run.

He also noted that Nasheed is the only one who has submitted his candidacy for the MDP primary election.

Aslam urged everyone of MDP’s 56,000 registered members to vote in MDP’s primary election as it would show that the citizens want a specific person to run in the presidential election.

He said that people support Nasheed in order to escape from a tyrannical rule and that Nasheed will rather work with people who disagree with him rather than label them terrorists and jail them.

He said that President Yameen is not such a person, the evidence being that he has thrown his elderly brother, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in jail.

He said that Nasheed is a fair leader who will back down when he needs to and work closely with people.