Adhaalath Party enters coalition agreement with resort tycoon’s Jumhoree Party

The AP recently severed its coalition agreement with President Mohamed Waheed, following his remarks to the AFP newswire that it was “better to work with” the self-claimed Islamist party, despite suggesting some elements in the party held “extreme views”.  He told media at the time that excluding the party from mainstream politics risked marginalising its members, having a “negative long-term effect”.

In a statement announcing its new coalition partner, the AP praised Gasim’s campaigning for the 2013 election and said it believed the presidential candidate was “the person most capable of defending the country from foreign influences, to safeguard the country’s highest of priorities, and that he is capable of working in an independent manner.”

Local news outlet Sun Online observed that the AP had similarly allied with the JP ahead of the 2008 presidential election, noting that the party’s then spokesperson and current Minister of Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, had qualified the alliance on the grounds that “a person capable of controlling four wives is more than capable of controlling the country.”