Interim leader of People’s National Congress (PNC) and MP for Fonadhoo constituency, Abdul Raheem Abdulla. has said that those that opposed Qasim Ibrahim’s comments love their jobs more than country. Speaker of Parliament and leader of Jumhooree Party Qasim Ibrahim had passed certain comments regarding upcoming Parliamentary elections yesterday.

MP Abdul Raheem said this during a joint press conference by Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and PNC - or the “Progressive National Coalition”. He noted that Qaasim Ibrahim had said that JP members should support PPM and PNC candidates in Parliamentary elections if JP is not running for that constituency. MP Abdul Raheem said that those that oppose these comments have responded under the motivation of greed for their current positions.

He added that Qasim Ibrahim’s comments had highlighted the method to acquire greater number of seats in Parliament. He said that although there are no documents or agreements indicating this, the JP leader fully respects the narrative on both sides regarding the matter.

MP Abdul Raheem noted that while Jumhooree Party is running in 32 constituencies, the People’s National Congress is also running in 32 constituencies in Parliamentary elections. He said that both JP and Progressive National Congress are running in 14 different constituencies.

The interim leader of PNC said that those closest to Qasim, including former Vice President Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, former Minister of Defence Colonel Rtd. Mohamed Nazim had revealed Qasim’s most recent conclusion. He added that the only members of JP that oppose these views are those carry within themselves the philosophies of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) while belonging to JP.

He noted that whether the nature of an agreement is either written or documented in any way, the agreement only stands through sincerity from both sides. MP Abdul Raheem said that we have already witnessed the consequences of the lack of sincerity from one side with the manner in which MDP split constituencies for Parliamentary election.

Qasim Ibrahim had revealed last night that JP is prepared to endorse the Progressive National Coalition candidates in 32 constituencies last night.

However, certain senior members of Jumhooree Party have come out and publicly opposed this viewpoint. These officials involve the President of the party, current Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed as well as Vice President of JP and current Minister of Environment Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan. The Minister had said that they will not be supporting candidates of the Progressive National Coalition.