Democrats to join Muizz's government
During bipartisan talks after the first round of the presidential election they had verbally agreed upon The Democrats’ involvement in the government.
The Democrats have announced that they will join the government of President-elect Dr Mohamed Muizz, who won the second round of the presidential election held Saturday.
The Democrats' founder and Henveiru West MP Hassan Latheef announced the party's announcement in a post on 'X'
The Democrats founder and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed reposted the post on his unofficial account.
Replying to a question from Atoll Times, Hassan Latheef said the The Democrats were ready to participate in Muizz's government. And on Muizz’s part, the The Democrats are now confident that the opportunity has been created.
Asked how much The Democrats would participate in Muizz's government, Latheef said the details would be known after discussions with Muizz's teams.
Although an exact date has not yet been set, Hassan hopes to start the talks very soon.
Atoll Times has confirmed that during bipartisan talks after the first round of the presidential election they had verbally agreed upon The Democrats’ involvement in the government.
The news of The Democrats taking part in Muizz's government comes while The Democrats founder Mohamed Nasheed, who had left MDP after serving as its president, has offered to rejoin the MDP.
If half of the MDP national council members agree, Nasheed will rejoin the MDP, he said in a message sent to MDP Chairman Fayyaz Ismail on Sunday.
The MDP national council members refused to bring Nasheed back to the MDP and said they will not support changing the system of government to a parliamentary system.
Nasheed was a close friend of President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih before he came to power, but the two have not spoken for a long time due to their political differences.
The two then held a brief meeting at the President's Office on September 24. The meeting was held to discuss Nasheed's efforts to overthrow the presidential to parliamentary system of government and the second round of Saturday’s presidential election.
The differences between the two men escalated to the point where Nasheed resigned from the MDP and formed a new party called the The Democrats. He was working politically against President Solih through the new party.
The Democrats' candidate for the presidential election, Ilyas Labeeb, received the third highest number of votes in the first round. However, the The Democrats decided not to take sides in the second round of the election, despite negotiations with the MDP and PPM-PNC to form a coalition.
The second round, held on Saturday, was won by the opposition PPM-PNC candidate Dr Mohammed Muizz. Several senior members of Nasheed's party also openly supported Muizz.
