President: 99% of MDP opposed to allowing Nasheed to re-join

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih says that 99 percent of the MDP’s national council are opposed to letting the party’s former leader Mohamed Nasheed rejoin the party.

The former Maldivian president, who worked against the MDP in the recent presidential election, said on Sunday that he was ready to rejoin the party, if the party’s national council approves.

In his first press conference after the defeat of his re-election bid, President Solih said Nasheed had also texted him, seeking to rejoin MDP.

President Solih said he does not find it important to have any specific individual brought the party.

He said that the party has never stopped running, just because a specific individual left.

President Solih said that membership to the MDP does not require approval of the party’s national council, and that the majority does not want Nasheed back in the party.

“I am in the national council. I am well aware of what the spirit is within the national council. I can safely say that around 99 percent are saying no [to Nasheed]. And no to parliamentary system as well,” he said.

President Solih said he believes in the power of dialogue to resolve conflict.

He declined to comment on whether he himself would back Nasheed or not.

He said he would always act in the best interest of the MDP.

Nasheed had left MDP in June, and joined a new party, the Democrats, a month later.

The Democrats went on to place third in the first round of the presidential election, and was heavily courted by the MDP for a potential coalition deal.

However, the party decided against backing either candidate in the runoff.

The rift that formed within the MDP had been one of the biggest blows to President Solih’s re-election bid.