Upholding unity among parties in the coalition is a duty of its leaders, says ex-president Maumoon

Upholding the unity among parties in the Maldivian government coalition is the primary duty of its leaders, says one among them, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The Maumoon Reform Movement leader said this in a two-part tweet on Saturday, following a recent reports of a rift between coalition members, Jumhooree Party and the Maldivian Democratic Party.

Maumoon’s tweet translates, ‘our four parties joined together to establish a just and fair government, that fulfils the hopes of the Maldivian people. I beseech my partners to put the interests of this nation before the interests of any individual party’.

Jumhooree Party leader Qasim Ibrahim on Friday accused the Maldivian Democratic Party of having ‘casted aside’ his party after their joint victory in September’s presidential elections.

Qasim said that his party has been ‘forced to beg’, and in a tweet later announced that the Jumhooree Party is now open to working with other parties, not in the coalition.

Qasim earlier criticised former president Mohamed Nasheed, leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party, for prioritising the latter’s stake in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Nasheed has been stressing the importance of acquiring a parliamentary majority for his party, on the basis that this is the only way for the pledges President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih made during his campaign to be fulfilled.

President Solih, a member of Nasheed’s party, echoed this sentiment on Friday, and while he has previously refrained from public comments in this regard, also said that the Maldivian Democratic Party ‘must' acquire a majority.