Jumhoree Party (JP) President Ali Waheed has called on the opposition coalition to back Aishath Nahula for their running mate in September’s presidential election.

Nahula is a council member of JP as well as the youngest wife of the party’s leader, Qasim Ibrahim.

The opposition coalition parties have agreed to field a member of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) as their common presidential candidate and a member of JP as their running mate.

In a tweet on Saturday, Waheed said he supports MDP’s Parliamentary Group leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as the candidate and Nahula as his running mate, adding that Qasim and his ‘courageous’ family deserves JP’s slot.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has relinquished MDP’s presidential ticket despite receiving over 40,000 votes, after the Elections Commission repeatedly stated that he would not be allowed to contest in this year’s presidential election.

While many MDP members have shown their support for Ibrahim Solih as their candidate, those in JP have been split in supporting Nahula and acting JP leader Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan.