Alliance To Determine Cabinet Posts, Political Appointees

30 October 2008
Zaheena Rasheed in Male'
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The cabinet of the new coalition government, which the MDP says will consist of 12 members, and other political appointees will be decided on by a committee of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Jumhooree Alliance, said president-elect Mohamed NAsheed (Anni) at the group’s first pre-election press briefing on Wednesday.

Leaders of the Alliance displayed unity at the live televised press conference, indicating all its members would be strongly involved in the new government after Anni is sworn in on 11 November.

But just a day after Anni’s election victory over incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, details of the coalition’s policy mechanisms were yet to come.

On the midterm elections he controversially proposed on 16 October, Anni said, “The exact legal and constitutional mechanisms and dates of the proposed midterm elections will take place after discussions with all members of the coalition.”

Hassan Saeed, a former presidential candidate whose campaign team had proposed the early election, said: “My unconditional offer of support to Mohamed Nasheed and the MDP Alliance still stands. I remain committed to working for reform.”

Anni reiterated calls for “forgiveness” despite having faced torture under the current government. “We need to move forward,” he said. “Anger and bitterness are a burden too great to bear while we try to create a new democratic form of governance.”

Anni urged all MDP supporters “provoke members of other parties not to retaliate and not to engage in bitter arguments,” while Gasim Ibrahim, the presidential candidate of the Jumhooree Coalition echoed the call for unity.

“We must be calm, and carry this transition out peacefully,” he said.

The Jumhooree (Republican) Coalition is set to command 30 percent of the cabinet, a senior official of the coalition said before elections, while Anni has previously said he hopes former independent candidate “Hassan Saeed would be involved in our government.”

Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra), the Social Liberal party’s former presidential candidate, said in a press conference after the first round of elections that he would “remain in the opposition”, but is now appearing on a common platform with other Alliance members.

The groups include the Jumhooree (Republican) Party, headed by former presidential candidate Gasim Ibrahim, and its coalition partners the religious conservative Adhaalath Party and the Maldives National Congress; the Social Liberal Party; and Saeed, who is now in the process of founding the Maldives National Party.