Will not back Qasim even if Pres Yameen is jailed: Opposition

Opposition parties, Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and People’s National Congress (PNC), ruled out support for coalition partner Qasim Ibrahim and his Jumhooree Party (JP), stating that that would remain the case even if opposition leader President Abdullah Yameen is jailed.

Speaking in a press conference held on Thursday, PNC Leader Abdu Raheem Abdullah ruled out the possibility of an alliance.

Abdu Raheem said that in light of looming elections, there was an attempt to cloud perception of opposition supporters and use this to create their own political agenda. This, he said, was being engineered by Qasim Ibrahim,

He referred to the article published on online news Avas, that claimed that jailing President Yameen was the first step to bring Qasim Ibrahim to the nation’s Presidency. The article said that in the event President Yameen is unable to contest, due to the court cases against him, there was a strong possibility that PPM/PNC would support Qasim in the next elections.

Abdu Raheem criticized the article, stating that it was a clear indication that JP and Qasim had paid for the article. He said that there was no way that PPM would ally with JP and Qasim. He added that there was a lot of pressure to jail President Yameen, labeling Qasim as being one of those pressures.

“JP is leading this offense. Qasim Ibrahim is under the impression that the only formula he has to become President is to jail President Yameen and then piggyback on PPM’s support,” he said.

Abdu Raheem stressed that President Yameen is the candidate from the coalition and will contest in the coming elections. All attempts to remove President Yameen’s candidacy will be in vain, he said.