Former President Mohamed Nasheed has criticized the Elections Commission (EC) by saying that Maldivians must be allowed to bring whomever they wish to elect as their President to office.

While the main opposition leader has won the party ticket in the presidential primaries of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and is to run for the upcoming presidential election, the Elections Commission has decided not to accept his bid for candidacy as he is 'ineligible' to run.

After EC’s decision to deny Nasheed candidacy, an uproar of debate had flared within the opposition following which Nasheed had taken to twitter on Tuesday.

His tweet, sent out in Dhivehi translates to, 'Maldivians must be allowed to elect whomever they wish to bring to office. The citizens will decide the validity'.

Nasheed wrote that the speck of a point made by the commission regarding an eligible candidate 'is not what the Maldivian people deserve'.

The debate among opposition on an eligible candidate had boiled over following the Jumhooree Party leader, Qasim Ibrahim’s announcement that the joint opposition must announce a fitting candidate from their coalition. Furthermore, Qasim had claimed that Nasheed’s candidacy is not legitimate and declared that he will not support Nasheed’s candidacy.