Objective is to have one candidate - Anni

17 December 2007
Report: Soodh

The main objective of the Alliance of Opposition Parties is to bring out one candidate to compete in the presidential elections of 2008 if President Gayoom decides to go ahead and compete for the presidency says the Chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Nasheed (Anni). Mohamed Nasheeed made the statement in an exclusive interview given to Miadhu.

According to Anni, the opposition front is managed through MDP in accordance with the wishes of other parties concerned. Anni said the only way the alliance of the opposition parties may be dissolved is by the rejection of the presidential candidacy by President Gayoom.

“If Dhivehi Rahyithunge Party (DRP) states that their presidential candidate is not President Gayoom then the Alliance may start considering the usefulness of the Alliance, other than that I can’t understand what they are talking about” said Anni.

Commenting on the work carried out by ruling DRP to bring an end to the Alliance, Anni said “I really don’t see how they can do that”. He further said although DRP claims that they would dissolve the Alliance, he cannot believe that DRP has the capacity to do that.

“They just cannot say that, they make contradictory statements, DRP claims they 90,000 in the vote on system of government and that we only got 60,000, but we have not accepted that, when they made the claim, all other parties except MDP were with them, so what does that mean?, it means Alliance is stronger, so there is no way they can prove that this not what the people want” said Anni Chairperson of MDP.

Speaking at a news conference held last Thursday Legal Reform Minister Mohamed Nasheed has said that the government would not support an interim arrangement which would limit the powers of the President and dissolve the cabinet formed by the President.

Chairperson Anni in response to Minister Nasheed’s statement said “we are not talking about removing the powers of the President”. He further said when the new constitution comes in to force; the current constitution must be dissolved and that once the constitution is dissolved, the privileges and powers afforded by that constitution will cease to exist.

“If the President has new role to play then it should be specified in the Act on the Transitional Arrangement, then that would be a transitional role, I am sure even Nasheed himself does not believe what he is talking about, all we are saying is a person who is heading the transitional government should not compete in the first multiparty elections planned” said Chairperson MDP Mohamed Nasheed.