President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will only take part in the presidential debate organized by state media if there is enough time after campaign trips, his campaign spokeswoman Mariya Ahmed Didi has said.
When the question of participation was posed at the daily press briefing by the Maldivian Democratic Party-led (MDP) coalition, Mariya said the president's main priority for the presidential campaign was to visit the public and conduct campaign activities.
"The president has been talking about the pledges on TV. So I could only directly answer that if there is time in his program after visiting the public, certainly he will give time to that based on availability," she said.
As the MDP candidate at the time, Solih did not take part in the 2018 presidential debate organized by the Maldives National University (MNU) on the grounds that it would not be fair and independent.
The upcoming debate is organized jointly by the Public Service Media (PSM) and MNU. It is scheduled to take place at 9 pm on September 1.
Solih is currently in Baa atoll for the presidential election campaign. He is due to visit six islands in the atoll today.
