Defeated President Abdulla Yameen’s campaign managers are responsible for his failure at the ballot box, says state minister Mohamed Ashmalee.

Ashmalee, who worked closely with senior officials on President Yameen’s campaign team, said that campaign ‘agent’ Adhulee Ismail had been immensely responsible for his loss.

Ashmalee was revealed as having said such in a message to opposition aligned lawmaker Ahmed Mahloof, where he expressed regret for having worked on Yameen’s campaign.

“Campaign manager Adhulee and Khaalidha and Rahuma had messed up the elections. Now there are spreading false news and attempting to slander me, are these humans?” Ashmalee says in his message.

In an interview with RaajjeMV, Ashmalee said that he had been loyal to President Yameen throughout the campaign and after, but would no longer work for him. Similar to the message publicized by MP Mahloof, Ashmalee also told RaajjeMV that his efforts might have meant more if he ‘worked for someone else’.

“If only I would have done such a work to some other person, I am sure they would have appreciated much better [sic]” the message to MP Mahloof says.

The Progressive Party of Maldives’ leadership has publically stated that they are responsible for Yameen’s loss, by default. However, this was only to answer a question from journalists at a press conference and before the party declared that the elections were rigged.

President Yameen has filed a case at the Supreme Court seeking to annul the results of September’s votes, on the grounds that the Elections Commission had rigged ballots in favour of his rival, president-elect Ibrahim Solih.