Backed Nasheed's govt, but he didn't do that for me: Pres

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said on Saturday that MDP lawmakers had given all the support required to the government during former president Mohamed Nasheed's presidency, but Nasheed did not provide his support through the parliament to implement the policies of the incumbent government.

Speaker Nasheed and 12 MDP MPs close to him had left MDP and formed a new party called The Democrats. Right before the defection, Nasheed and his close associates had worked as a separate faction against the government within MDP.

In an interview with Raajje TV's Saturday morning, the president said that ruling party MPs should work in parliament to maintain and promote the government's policies.

"[During Nasheed's rule] when I was the leader of the MDP parliamentary group, I was working like that. The bills proposed by the government, there will be sometimes differences of opinion. They can be reformed through talks," he said.

The president said he believed there would be differences of opinion as every member of parliament represents a constituency and their respective people.

"However, the main principle should be the implementation of government policy. Of course, during my time in Parliament, I fully cooperated with the government in implementing the bills and policies it wanted to implement when we were in power," he said.

"However, with the start of our term, with the super majority we have, I have not received the support of some members of parliament at the pace I need”.

With the challenges, the president said, he was forced to maintain the majority in parliament. As such, he said:

"It can be said that the government has been brought to this point because of that work. Otherwise, I would have to devote more of my time to the work of the Parliament; to seek assistance in the passage of bills and implementation of policies," the president said.

President Solih cited the challenges faced in parliament during the pandemic. The ruling MDP had a majority, but the government’s decisions were being opposed in parliament, he said.

"The government had majority [in parliament], the government took decisions, but whatever was decided, it was opposed," he said, adding that it had led to a difficult phase.

In a multi-party democracy, the people belonging to the government should stay with the government, he said. The president believes that if there are differences of opinion, they should be discussed and moved forward together.

"It is known that each of them, every member of MDP, has been elected on the basis of the party's policies. What they say in Agenda-19 is what can be done within the government," he said, pointing out that things were not going that way inside parliament.

There will be times when MPs will have to agree on matters of national interest and they will have to cooperate with the government in such matters, he said.