MDP hopes to exploit Yameen’s shaky hold on power on Nov 27

The opposition is hoping to capitalize on the government’s apparent shaky hold on power with a prolonged mass protest on November 27.

The protest aimed at pressuring President Abdulla Yameen to free former President Mohamed Nasheed and other political prisoners, is the Maldivian Democratic Party’s fourth mass protest this year.

“The difference this time is that this is the first mass protest to be staged since the infighting exposed within Yameen’s government. We plan to continue the protest for as long hours as possible,” said Imthiyaz Fahmy, the MDP spokesman.

A minor blast on Yameen’s speedboat on September 28, which the government insists was caused by a bomb, led to the arrest and impeachment of the vice president, the sacking of the defence minister and police chief in a wide shakeup of the security forces, and acknowledgment of missing weapons and missing money from tourism leases, thought to run into tens of millions of dollars.