Nasheed Says He Will Do Whatever It Takes To Keep MDP In Power

Majlis Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed vowed to do "whatever it takes" to ensure that the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) remains in power in the Maldives.

Speaker Nasheed said this in an interview with India's "The Hindu" newspaper, during a visit to Colombo to address Sri Lanka's National Youth Parliament. He said that there was "the need to" keep the MDP in power, "to ensure that democracy continues".

Speaker Nasheed did not rule out running for the presidency himself, but did not announce who the final candidate for the upcoming elections would be. Regardless, he said that "the most important thing" was that the MDP remains in power.

"I can't see both of us [i.e. President Solih and myself] contesting each other. I don't think he would, either", he said.

Speaker Nasheed has been supporting the idea of instituting a parliamentary system of government to replace the presidential system. He said that the presidential system "makes it impossible" for any political party to secure 50% of the vote and win an election without courting smaller political entities. He described some of those smaller entities as espousing "extremist" religious views. "And they have a disproportionate amount of power when we are in government", he said. This is likely a reference to the Adhaalath Party which is a member of the MDP-led ruling coalition.