Malé, Maldives – Former President and Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed has said that Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will win the for mayoral seats of the country and a landslide amount of council seats in the Saturday’s Local Council Elections.
Speaking to supporters this mornin, Speaker Nasheed who is also the President of MDP, told that MDP has always been a party which competes in all the elections without any hesitation or fear and that MDP never takes any election to be challenging.
By the grace of God, this party [MDP] will win the majority of the seats in this election. We are competing for 1,500 seats. We are confident to win over 1,000 of those seats.
Former President and Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed
He also pointed out that MDP will win Addu City, Fuvahmulah City, Malé City and Kulhudhuffushi City mayoral seats with ease bit a big difference.
Speaker Nasheed also said that MDP is not a party looking for praise but one that listens to the people’s complaints and that this was one of the main reasons MDP has always been trusted by the general public.
Our breath, our food is your complaints. We hear your complaints. We are out here to find a solution for your complaints.
Former President and Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed
Speaker Nasheed also told that MDP always faced elections with careful planning and with a broad vision. He also added that due to this, it has always been easy for the people to choose MDP as the party presents clear and achievable goals.
Speaker Nasheed’s remarks on winning the local council elections by a landslide comes at a time where MDP has been facing lots of criticism over delayed presidential pledges and also the pledges made during the 2019 parliamentary elections.
Speaker Nasheed has said earlier this week that MDP will deliver all its pledges if they win the majority of the local councils. MDP has been under heavy pressure from the opposition coalitions mayoral candidate for Malé City, Former Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Dr. Mohamed Muiz.
Elections Commission had previously revealed that 2,264 candidates will run for council and 1,670 candidates will run for Women’s Development Committees (WDC) in the election which is to be held on April 10, 2021.
The Local Council Election was originally supposed to be held on 4 April 2020, but due to the alarming increase of Covid-19 cases in Maldives, the country had gone into a lockdown, and the election was delayed by a year to 10 April 2021.
The Parliament had to pass a special bill due to the implications of Covid-19 in the elections, and this bill is to be followed for all incoming elections. The Local Council Election is to be held on April 10th.
While the upcoming Local Council Elections (LCE) and Women’s Development Committee (WDC) elections will be held according to the guidelines given by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), this time more ballot boxes would be places in different areas as the HPA guidelines does not allow people to travel from one island to another. The voters will also be required to adhere to guidelines such as maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.
