Former President Dr. Mohamed Waheed and his son Jeffrey Salim have joined the Jumhooree Party (JP).
They signed to JP during a rally held in Maamigili island on Saturday night. Maamigili is the home island of JP leader and presidential candidate Qasim Ibrahim.
Waheed, who has had a long political career, earlier formed his own party which was part of the coalition that won the first multi-party presidential election in 2008.
He was the Vice President of the coalition government led by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Following opposition protests and mutiny by the police and soldiers, President Mohamed Nasheed resigned in 2012, paving the way for Waheed to become President.
Jeffrey Salim signing to JP.
He contested in the 2013 presidential election but won only five percent of the votes. Waheed remained away from politics for some time before joining the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) in 2020.
He was appointed as a special advisor to the party and served as a senate member. But, Waheed resigned from the PPM last Thursday, saying the party's failure to nominate a presidential candidate was a betrayal and an injustice.
"Because of the lack of internal democracy in the party, no one was given the opportunity to contest the presidential election. Because of that, there will be no PPM candidate on the ballot paper for this year's presidential election. There will be no pink colour. PPM's colour and logo will not be on the ballot paper," he said on Saturday night.
