“The JP supports the JP”: Jumhooree Party opts to play it safe
Hussein Rasheed Hassan says the bitter experiences the Jumhooree Party has had in the past prevent them from taking sides in the ongoing PPM dispute or align itself with the opposition.
24 Oct 2016, 9:00 AM
The Jumhooree Party, led by tourism tycoon and MP Gasim Ibrahim, has refused to align itself with the opposition coalition or take sides in the acrimonious power struggle roiling its former ally, the Progressive Party of the Maldives.
Hussein Rasheed Hassan, the JP’s deputy leader, told the Maldives Independent the party considers itself part of the political opposition, but its bitter experiences with coalitions in the past prevents it from making a new alliance.
“We are an independent party with our own set of principles. We have worked with both the opposition and the ruling parties, but our policies cannot be implemented by working with them,” Rasheed said, in response to an apparent request for an alliance from former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for the upcoming local council elections.
Gayoom is battling a court-ordered usurpation of his authority as president of the divided ruling party. The court had installed his half-brother and incumbent president, Abdulla Yameen, to head the PPM, splitting the party into fully-fledged rival factions.
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