Nasheed's praise for Ilyas: No one knows governance better

Maldivian people now need a young leader and that leader is the Democrats’ Ilyas Labeeb, former MDP president and Democrats founder Mohamed Nasheed said on Sunday.

The Democrats on Sunday evening held a special session for Ilyas, who is sole contender for the party's presidential ticket. Nasheed praised him at the rally.

Nasheed said that Ilyas is the only person who knows best how a state works and knows how to govern. Nasheed gave examples of this.

“I’m saying very clearly, from among the existing politicians in Maldives now, only Ilyas Labeeb knows, understands and can preach about what the balance of payments is, what a deficit is, what inflation is, what happens to savings if interest rates are changed, what savings is, what is a company's profit and loss account, what is a balance sheet and what is unemployment, debt and tax yields,” Nasheed said.

Challenging the candidates of other parties, Nasheed said there would be no one else but Ilyas who could talk about such economics and state management in a few short minutes.

The parliament speaker said incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is now "too old" and that governance should be handed over to the younger generation.

“I first won the presidential election when I was around the same age as Ilyas Labeeb,” Nasheed said, referring to his 2008 win in the presidential election.

Nasheed also spoke about the difference between President Solih and Ilyas.

Nasheed highlighted:

Referring to the talks, Nasheed said the election is won not on promises but on expectations. Nasheed said this referring to the various promises President Solih is making when he visits the islands.