Sinan Ali, a Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) council member, has been dismissed from the government-owned Island Aviation board.

The privatization board’s president Mohamed Nizar has confirmed this to the media.

Although, he did not disclose the reason why Sinan, a senior member of the government coalition party, was dismissed from the board of the national airline’s parent company.

Sinan, who is also the media coordinator of MDA, was the chairman of state utilities company STELCO before being appointed to the Island Aviation’s board. Before that he was a board member of Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC).

This comes at a time when relations between MDA and the ruling party PPM is at its lowest, with MDA leader Ahmed Siyam not being seen at President Abdulla Yameen’s campaign. Siyam, a longtime friend of President Yameen, has recently picked MDA’s vice president Ali Mauroof to lead the party.

While MDA did not pick one of its members to contest the elections, some of its members have been vocal in their support of the Joint Opposition.