President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has said that he is contesting in the upcoming presidential election with the largest membership in a coalition ever.

President Solih made the statement while speaking at the MDP campaign motivational session held at Izzuddin School today.

The President said his coalition has 77,700 members which includes members from the Adhaalat Party, MDA, and MDP.

President Solih's statement comes as a response to repeated claims by the opposition and the current main rival, The Democrats, that he is alone after a fallout with parties that he had made a coalition before.

He came to power as an MDP candidate with a coalition of the Jumhooree Party, Adhaalat Party, and the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM).

However, JP has decided to contest the presidential election separately with party leader Qasim Ibrahim being their presidential candidate. MRM who is also a member of the coalition, has not yet decided to form a coalition with President Solih.

Following the controversy over the party's presidential primary, members supporting speaker Mohamed Nasheed defected from MDP and formed The Democrats.

Speaking at a meeting held on Wednesday night to form The Democrats, Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed also hinted that President Solih was alone in the presidential race.

He stressed that the Democrats have a majority of the party's members, which includes 80 percent of the party's members.