I have always been interested in forming coalitions: Yameen

Presidential Primary candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Abdullah Yameen has said that he has always been interested in forming coalitions with other parties.

Yameen said this while speaking on TVM Raajje Miadhu programme today.

“I am very interested in forming coalitions, not necessarily after I get the party ticket. Even before that, a coalition should be formed if you want to strengthen the party,” he said.

Yameen stressed that party membership should be increased in order to win the Presidential Election, and that the membership of PPM was increased to 31,000 through the efforts of his team by traveling to the atolls. He said that he also played a major role in PPM’s success in 19 by-elections.

Yameen said that he was the lead advocate of forming a political party while he was a member of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and that Umar Naseer in fact opposed the idea back then. Yameen said that he had worked in senior posts in several ministries of the government and produced results.

Yameen said that while Umar Naseer had accused him of sitting in an ‘air-conditioned room’, he was the one to condemn the arrest of Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdullah Mohamed and lead the first protests in this regard. He said that he also called PPM to strengthen the series of protests when they started losing pace.