Colombo, Feb 9 (IANS): Exiled former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed on Thursday announced that he would contest the 2018 presidential election if he gets elected as the Maldives Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

"I am here in Colombo to meet our party officials. We have decided to hold the MDP presidential primaries perhaps later this year. I will contest those internal elections. I hope to win the MDP's ticket as the party's candidate of choice for the 2018 Maldives presidential election," Nasheed told reporters in Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

Nasheed, who has been in Colombo for the past two weeks to hold in-depth discussions with his party officials, said that if he is not allowed to contest the poll, the MDP would support another candidate from another party, Xinhua news agency reported.

He stressed that the MDP would not boycott the election and neither would it field another candidate. However, he remained confident that he would be able to contest in a free and fair manner.

Nasheed, the leader of the MDP, is the Maldives' first democratically elected President. He was jailed in the Maldives in 2015 on terrorism charge after allegedly ordering the arrest of a judge during his tenure as the President.

He was sentenced to 13 years in imprisonment. In 2016, Nasheed was given asylum in Britain, where he had gone for medical treatment.