Can NUA agree to a single candidate?

Five political parties/factions known as National Unity Alliance (NUA) is working right now to see if we can (or whether we should) have a single candidate to represent NUA in the upcoming Presidential election. All the leaders have met twice and discussed this issue and is to meet again next week.

The following options are on the table.

1. To forward a candidate from each party and compete individually in the first round of voting and divide the vote as much as possible to deny 50%+ to Qayyoom and unite in the second round of voting and defeat Qayyoom on one-on-one, in round two.

2. To agree to a single candidate and start the campaign with one candidate and defeat Qayyoom in round one itself.

3. To wait until Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Social Liberal Party (SLP) to officially nominate their candidates to discuss this issue.

4. A very interesting 4th proposal has been put forward by a lobby group. They propose that NUA leaders agree to an interim candidate, not affiliated to any party, and defeat Qayyoom in round one. This interim president and his/her running mate will then resign in 6 months after making a level playing field for all candidates including DRP members interested in competing. This interim president will not compete in the next election.

Since this is a very important national issue, I look forward for your comments.

Umar Naseer
President
IDP