MP Abdulla Shahid, a long-serving parliamentarian and former speaker of Maldives’ unicameral People’s Majlis, has on Friday announced his decision to back fellow lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih for candidacy.
Shahid, who has been aligned with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) since the beginning of his current term, said this after former president Mohamed Nasheed announced his decision to let go of the party’s presidential ticket.
In light of the fact that @ElectionsMv have written to MDP saying that I can’t contest in the upcoming Presidential Elections, I have decided to relinquish my Presidential ticket. I hope to do this at MDP’s 3rd Congress. The EC’s decision is illegal and they must be sanctioned.
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) June 29, 2018
Shahid took to Twitter to express his support for his fellow lawmaker. His post translates to, ‘decided to support Ibrahim Mohamed Solih for presidency, with the added intention of ensuring unity within the party’.
Through his public Facebook page, Shahid also said that he hopes the Joint Opposition’s candidate will be a member of MDP and that their running mate would ‘be from the Jumhooree Party’.
While Shahid expressed his support for Solih – MDP’s parliamentary group leader – their colleague MP Ahmed Mahloof said earlier this month that he believes Nasheed to be the ‘best choice’ but would support Solih if the former president cannot contest.
Following Mahloof’s comments, former attorney general Husnu Suood also expressed support for MP Solih.
Suood said in his tweet, ‘if Mohamed Nasheed cannot contest in the 2018 Maldives Presidential Elections, then I too support Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’.
Nasheed won the Maldivian Democratic Party’s primary elections with over 43,000 votes.
