Malé, Maldives – Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced that their presidential candidate will be decided through an internal primary election.
Chairperson of the congress committee, Ibrahim Waheed (Wadde) told local media that no discussions of the presidential ticket will be carried out in the upcoming national congress of the party on August 19, 2022.
He also added that no propositions to amend the party’s constitution regarding the presidential ticket were made during the open period for amendments and that the party will follow its existing process for deciding a presidential candidate.
Waheed further added that a date for the primaries has not been decided yet. According to Waheed the chairperson of the party will propose the date for the presidential primary elections to the the party’s national council for discussion very soon. MDP constitution mandates a five member committee to be appointed by the national council to coordinate and carry out the presidential primaries.
The national congress of MDP has the authority to give its presidential ticket to any candidate without an election, the national council does not have this authority. Waheed further clarified that since the discussion of presidential elections is not in agenda for discussion in the upcoming national congress that the only way left is for the party’s internal primary election.
MDP officially clarified on the matter following some reports of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s faction attempting to give him the party’s presidential ticket in the upcoming national congress.
President Solih has previously announced his interest to run for a second term which was met with backlash from Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed. While the party has been divided to two factions, Speaker Nasheed told that this was not the time for President Solih to run for a second term to satisfy his personal expectations.
