‘No doubt’ of opposition parliamentary majority, Nasheed claims

“Our goal is to bring an end to President Yameen’s rule. I urge all party members to dedicate your time to the efforts to remove President Yameen from power,” the opposition leader said in a statement released Monday on the occasion of his Maldivian Democratic Party’s 12th anniversary.

Nasheed said the united opposition is working with a “broad agenda” to restore democracy, bring back the decentralisation system, and ensure the independence of the judiciary, oversight bodies, and the security services.

The opposition alliance has been trying to challenge Yameen’s previously unassailable majority since former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom signed a pact with his former rival Nasheed and other opposition leaders. The alliance failed to remove Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed with defections from the divided ruling party in late March, but senior opposition figures have signalled that the balance of power in the 85-member house will shift once the People’s Majlis reopens after the Eid holidays.