Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim has said the government coalition is still intact but that his party now stands with the opposition congress.

At a press conference on Saturday night, party leader Qasim revealed his party’s decision to support parliamentary candidates of the Progressive Congress, which consists of former President Abdulla Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and recently established People’s National Congress (PNC).

Qasim said that their 32 candidates have JP’s full support but that this decision was not part of any agreement made between them.

He also said that the party’s main objective is to get more seats in the next parliament and that their decision is a result of main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) not respecting their agreement with JP.

During the press conference, Qasim had even detailed the agreements made between the coalition parties and how MDP leader and former president Mohamed Nasheed went against it.

Earlier, Qasim said that ex-President Yameen’s detention was unlawful and called for his release. However, he said the decision to work with the opposition congress came before Yameen was jailed.

Qasim added that Yameen is being detained under a court order that was released without a police intelligence report.

The Criminal Court ordered Yameen to be detained for the rest of his trial on money-laundering charges after the Prosecutor General (PG)’s office revealed that he had been offering bribes to change witness testimonies.

The rift between MDP and JP emerged after MDP decided to contest almost all seats in the parliamentary election, which Qasim claims violates an agreement the parties had made.

Qasim later announced that he is willing to work with other political parties and to possibly form coalitions with them, and began meeting with members of the Progressive Congress.