Nasheed says will not stand with Pres Solih if primary is lost

MDP president and former president Mohamed Nasheed has said that if he loses the presidential primaries, he will not stand with president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

A video of Nasheed saying so has gone viral on social media on Monday. In the video, Nasheed can be seen visiting an island for the primary campaign and addressing his supporters.

In the video, a man asks Nasheed whether he will be with President Solih or PPM if he loses the primaries. In response, Nasheed said he would not support anyone if he lost and would remain at home.

"I will not be with PPM. A hundred percent sure, I will not stand with PPM," Nasheed said.

"But I won't be with Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. I can go alone and stay at home, and thats it, right?"

Nasheed also explained the reasons behind this decision. The main reason, as Nasheed put it, was that 39,000 members supporting him in the run-up to the primaries were dropped from the party registry.

"39,000 people were cut (by MDP) because they could vote for me. Among those who were cut off, my brother was also cut off, my mother was also cut off and Laila was also cut off," Nasheed said.

Citing his brother as an example, Nasheed said that when people are rejected from from the party at this juncture, it is like, "Ibu says you are not needed anymore, you’re out."

"Then later, I should go and told my brother, 'Now we need you so much so come back.' 70,000 of them will not come," Nasheed said.

While Nasheed has repeatedly said that 39,000 people were removed from the party's registry ahead of the primaries, he expects the party to lose around 70,000 votes with those associated with the expelled members.

At the time, the party leadership had argued that the reason for equating the party's registry with the electoral roll was to close the door as a large proportion of the 93,000 people in the party at that time were in other parties and the registry was not matched with the electoral roll and there was a possibility of other parties interfering in the party's internal elections.

When compared with the election commission's position, some were expelled from the party. Thus:

At that time, the national assembly took the decision and allowed three months to re-register with the party again. The party's congress, which was held in September, was also held keeping in mind the election commission's register.