Nasheed meets supporters after election defeat

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leader and Parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed had his first meeting with his supporters Monday, after his defeat in the MDP presidential primary last weekend.

Nasheed met with his supporters at the Dhon Manik Sky View restaurant at Alimas Carnival in Male’ City on Monday afternoon.

It was his first appearance in public since the election.

The heated MDP primary had pitched Nasheed against President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

President Solih won the MDP presidential primary Saturday with 61 percent of votes. He won 24,572 votes while Nasheed won 15,631 votes – 39 percent.

In a message on the MDP national council group on Whatsapp earlier Monday, Nasheed said President Solih won the election by a “small margin”.

However, he refused to back President Solih, and said he planned on running a separate political movement within MDP under the moniker “Fikuregge Dhirun”.

“President Solih will lose many of the votes he purportedly received if we set aside the election rigging. But I estimate that with looking at the voter’s list, President Solih may have won by a small margin,” he said.

Nasheed said President Solih will not win the presidential election for MDP.

“I propose relaunching MDP’s branches in all islands under the moniker ‘Fikuregge Dhirun’, reinstate over 39,000 members removed from MDP, and for all of us to make a decision together,” he said.

Nasheed said the presidential candidate that will be supported by ‘Fikuregge Dhirun’ will be decided later, and that it would be easier to support a candidate who agrees to a shift to a parliamentary system ahead of the presidential election.