Former Parliamentary Group Leader of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik has stated the biggest issue of the party is not accepting defeat and not knowing how to face defeat.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with PSM News, Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik said PPM failed due to failure in preparing and planning for the whole parliamentary elections. In this regard, Nihan added the corruption allegations on the whole party played a major role in the outcome of the elections.
Accusing the current leadership of PPM has failed, Nihan has stepped aside from the leadership of the main opposition party. Nihan made the remarks via a series of tweets in which he claimed PPM faced defeat from the last three elections held in Maldives, which directed several criticism towards the leadership of the party. In his tweets, Nihan said PPM faced defeat in the 2017 local council elections, 2018 presidential election and the most recent parliamentary elections as a result of an irresponsible leadership.
Speaking on the programme, Nihan said the major reason for failure is not knowing how to stand up and working harder to achieve the targets. Furthermore, Nihan said most votes were lost to PPM as the votes were divided among opposition candidates who competed for the same constituencies. He said it resulted in the main ruling party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in winning a super majority in the parliament.
After filling 3 terms in parliament, Nihan was one of the key figures who competed and lost in the parliamentary elections held on April 6. In the elections, PPM only secured 5 seats and its coalition partner, People's National Congress (PNC) won just 3 seats. MDP managed to win 65 out of the 87 seats in parliament.