Presidential candidate Solih is 'politicizing' civil service employees: Nihan

State employees announcing their support for presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is the result of his ongoing effort to politicize the civil service, the ruling party has claimed.

At a press conference held on Thursday at the Progressive Party of Maldives’ (PPM) headquarters in capital city Malé, panelists denounce this as a ‘deplorable’ act.

MP Nihan, a panelist at the conference and leader of PPM’s parliamentary group, said that the ruling party has never encouraged civil servants to publicly declare support.

“They have the freedom to support whichever party they want, but we have never asked them to publicly declare support for us, doing so is deplorable and even now we hold nothing against those that have”, Nihan asserted.

Fisheries Minister Mohamed Shainee, another panelist, described civil servants expressing support for the government’s opposing coalition as ‘unprofessional’.

“I would say it is very unprofessional. This is not something that should be encouraged and we condemn it”, Shainee said.

While the ruling party made these assertions, President Abdulla Yameen’s bid for presidency has faced accusation of abuse of power.

The government has been accused of coercing civil service employees to participate in campaign events held by the government.

Earlier in July, two employees at the state utilities company FENAKA claimed that management has attempted to ‘bully’ them into guaranteeing their support for President Yameen in the upcoming elections.

Government officials, including ministers and management of state companies, are routinely seen organizing and participating in campaign and support events held by the ruling party.

Employees of the civil service have previously reported being coerced and even bribed into attending and supporting such events, who claim they are threatened with dismissal and salary reductions if they fail to comply.