In a tweet on Monday, former Attorney General Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed said there was no reason not to allow former President Mohamed Nasheed to contest this year’s presidential election.

In the tweet, she said that barring Nasheed from contesting means letting President Abdulla Yameen’s own wishes take precedence over the law.

While the government has repeatedly said that Nasheed cannot contest the election on account of his prison conviction, many have taken to social media to show their support for the opposition leader.

Dhiyana said that Nasheed should be allowed to contest, since the Supreme Court order on February 1 absolved him from his conviction and since international organizations have also called for a free and fair election in Maldives with Nasheed in the running.

43,000 members of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) voted for Nasheed in the party’s primary election on Wednesday, despite authorities trying to stop it.

Even after he has received the MDP ticket, the question remains on whether Nasheed would run in the presidential election, whether the opposition coalition parties would pick a single candidate and on who that would be.

The Elections Commission (EC) has said that it will not accept the result of the MDP primaries and will be taking action against those involved. However, the Commission has accepted ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s decision to hand over its ticket to President Yameen without a primary election.