President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's running mate MP Mohamed Aslam has said that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and The Democrats have the same ideology.
The Democrats was formed by senior MPs who left MDP after the party's former leader Mohamed Nasheed fell out with Solih.
Speaking in Addu city's Hulhudhoo on Friday night, Aslam said leading members of Democrats had been at the forefront of the MDP's efforts to transform Maldives.
He said that governments did not listen to the people before the country's transition to the multi-party system in 2008.
"I would say there is no ideological difference between the MDP and The Democrats. We have a difference of opinion on some things. I think we are very closely related and one family," Aslam said.
Spreading out the fingers of his palm, Aslam claimed that is the farthest distance the Democrats can move away from MDP and the two parties cannot separate completely.
After securing “kingmaker” status by finishing third in the first round of the presidential election, The Democrats proposed holding a public referendum next week on changing the system of government as a condition for supporting the ruling MDP.
At a meeting last Monday night, the party's interim council adopted a stand with the votes of 59 members to set a deadline and to not support either candidate if the parties do not agree to the conditions within two days.
Democrats presidential candidate Ilyas Labeeb told Adhadhu that the party's stand remains unchanged.
"There was a decision made by our interim council. That decision was clear, wasn't it, that we would not take either side," he said.
The Democrats was formed by loyalists of Speaker Mohamed Nasheed who left the MDP after the former president’s loss in the party’s presidential primary in January.
Relations between President Solih and Nasheed, who was MDP president until his departure, deteriorated after the primary.
