Malé, Maldives – MP for Medhu Henveiru constituency and MDP Parliamentary group leader Ali Azim has said that conflicts arising within parliament hinder is hindering President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s efforts to maintain the government coalition.
The currently governing coalition consists of Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party (JP), Adhaalath Party (AP) and Maldives Reform Movement (MRM).
Speaking last night on local news channel “RajjeTV”, MP Azim said that the winners of the 2008 and 2013 Presidential elections were coalitions, but that these coalitions broke up soon after due to various reason and that President Solih’s continued efforts to prevent this from happening to the current governing coalition is commendable.
MP Azim noted that non of the previous administrations could maintain their coalitions without conflict and said that he believes the main cause of conflicts and setbacks within the current coalition is largely due to proceedings within parliament.
He clarified that this is because the Maldivian Parliament exists to hold the government accountable, and problematic matters are forced to be discussed to ensure the rights of citizens.
MP Azim also said that all parties are aiming to be the ruling party and maintaining coalitions are difficult because of this and that as presidential elections are coming up, some parties inside the coalition have decided to ‘mock’ the government.
“If they continue to trouble the citizens like this, we have to look into other options, and after looking into these options, we must propose these options to the people.”
MP Ali Azim
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has previously said that governments cabinet slot allocation was changed after discussions with coalition parties when Health Ministry was given to MDP and that the coalition will last throughout his presidential term.
The president debunked what many people have said on the difficulty of running a coalition government, saying that it is not hard. President Solih explained that in his political career, he has always discussed with multiple people for work and that his competitive peers were no exception.
As President Solih is going through his second year in office, 5 ministers in his cabinet have changed and changes have come to slots in 3 ministries assigned to coalition parties. It has been noted by many that none of the deposed Ministers are from MDP, the main party of the coalition which holds an overwhelming majority in Parliament.
The president said that there is an agreement on giving positions to coalition parties but that in certain cases, changes have been made to this agreement, and that these changes are brought after discussions with coalition leaders.
