COLOMBO: The Maldivian opposition have chosen a new candidate to run against strongman President Abdulla Yameen in elections this year and promised to allow dissidents to return from exile if they win, officials said yesterday, reports AFP.

The Maldivian Democratic Party nominated its parliamentary leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to lead a coalition of opposition groups, party spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told AFP. Solih will replace veteran opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed, who withdrew his candidacy last week after being told by the national electoral commission that he was disqualified from running in the September poll.

Nasheed, who was jailed for 13 years in what the UN called a politically motivated trial, has been living in exile since seeking medical treatment abroad in 2016. Ghafoor said if victorious, the MDP would clear the way for all political dissidents to return within 18 months and participate in an inclusive electoral process to join government.

Currently, all Yameen’s opponents and top dissidents are either in jail or in exile, and Solih is seen as a symbol representing the united opposition against the president.

A presidential term is five years in the Maldives but a sitting leader can call snap elections.