Despite agreeing to work together, the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives-People's National Congress (PPM-PNC) coalition and The Democrats said today that the parties will contest separately in the first round of the presidential election.
The PPM-PNC's presidential candidate is former president Abdulla Yameen, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence. The Democrats formed under former president Mohamed Nasheed's leadership previously said it would also field a candidate.
Two rounds of talks have taken place on working together. The third meeting held at the Ocean Library today came after Nasheed's "Ocean Weekly" magazine published an article that proposed fielding a candidate that both parties could agree upon.
According to the article, it is important for the candidate to be someone other than the PPM candidate Yameen or Nasheed from The Democrats.
Reporters posed numerous questions on the topic at the press conference after today's meeting.
PNC vice president Ibrahim Shujau, who represented the PPM-PNC coalition, said no discussions have taken place yet about a common candidate.
"We are coming here with a specific agenda. Discussions on a common candidate have not been tabled in our agenda yet. We will answer that when it comes to a common candidate," said Hulhumale' councillor Shujau.
Hussain Amr, who represented The Democrats, said the party will show a candidate for the presidential election's first round and would not work to ensure a second term for President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
"When it reaches the point where we have to show a common candidate, The Democrats will also support the candidate we've agreed on. However, we're saying repeatedly that we will also have a candidate," said Amr, who was managing director of the State Trading Organization (STO) under the current government.
Amr appeared to be saying that The Democrats would contest in the first round but would not support President Solih in the second round if the party's candidate fails to make the run-off.
When reporters asked about allegations previously made against former president Yameen by senior Democrat members, Amr and Shujau refused to answer the questions and instead accused reporters of taking money from the government.
Reporters denied the allegations and kept repeating the questions. The reporters urged them to answer the questions instead of levelling further allegations against the media.
