President: Democrats pose no challenge to MDP

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih states that the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) is the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s main rival in the upcoming presidential election, and that The Democrats – formed by a breakaway faction of the MDP – do not pose a challenge.

President Solih, who is in a campaign visit in V. Fulidhoo, made the remark when asked by a reporter how confident he was regarding winning against MDP’s former leader Mohamed Nasheed – who has now joined Democrats.

Referring to his win over Nasheed in the MDP presidential primary, President Solih said there hadn’t been much change to the political landscape since the last election, and that MDP’s main rival remained the opposition PPM.

“I believe MDP and PPM will be the frontrunners in the upcoming election as well. I don’t see this having changed,” he said.

While President Solih said that Democrats didn’t pose a challenge to MDP, he did acknowledge that MDP has lost some votes due to the members who left the party to join Democrats.

He expressed confidence he would get more than enough votes to make up for it.

“The previous coalition is different from the current coalition. With the changes to our policies, goals and strategies, we have received the support of many new voters who we did not have before,” he said.

President Solih had a lukewarm response to Nasheed’s threat last weekend that he would “dismantle” MDP. He said that MDP had seen other members leave the party due to differences in opinion in the past, and that party would move forward.