Malé, Maldives – In the past 24 hours, Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail and MP for Maafannu North constituency Imthiyaz Fahmy have announced their candidacy for the Chairperson of the ruling party MDP.
Immediately upon MP Imthiyaz’s announcement, the Deputy Speaker of the Maldives Parliament Eva Abdulla expressed her support for the parliamentarian. MP Imthiyaz is an avid supporter of the former President and incumbent Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed.
Meanwhile, Minister Fayyaz is a vocal supporter of the incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
Fayyaz in his statement said that his goal was to maintain the “fine MDP government.”
Recently, Presidents Nasheed and Solih have clashed with some MDP members renouncing the other faction as not “the real MDP.”
In August 2021, Speaker Nasheed publicly stated that he can no longer work with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the political field while President Solih rebutted that he would not stand by and let MDP be destroyed.
The two Presidents have since worked together to progress MDP on multiple occasions including the most recent Komandoo elections.
Political pundits however predict that this internal election for the chairperson is critical for both leaders ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.
