Senior ruling party lawmaker Ahmed Nihan has aimed severe criticisms at Joint Opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

At a press conference, Nihan claimed that Solih had remained silent when supposed irreligious statements were made during Mohamed Nasheed’s presidency.

Nihan said Solih participated in Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s attacks on religion by remaining silent, even going on to accuse him of playing an important role in it behind the scenes as the party’s parliamentary group leader.

He claimed that Solih does not even know that the rule of law is a basic tenet of a democracy or even to spell the word, going on to say that he had probably copied during school examinations.

Nihan further ridiculed the opposition candidate by saying that he could not utter a single word in English.