Malé, Maldives – President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has announced that he will contest the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) primary to determine a candidate for next year’s presidential election.
The primary for the country’s largest party is scheduled to be held on January 28, 2023.
At the informal meeting held at Shine Tree Building (the building where Salt Cafe is located), which he also used as the campaign center for the last presidential election, the President announced his intention to contest the January 28 primary and sought the support of National Council members.
Sharing information about the meeting, which was held without access to the media, a MDP MP said about 100 MDP National Council members attended the meeting. Many members who attended the meeting assured that they would be with President Solih.
Senior members of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s faction have been doing the presidential primary campaign for some time now. However, this is the first time the President has met with his supporters in the National Council and officially shared his decision to contest in the primary election.
MDP President Mohammed Nasheed has also announced that he will contest the presidential primary. However, he says many members have been removed from the party register and the register has been disrupted.
The register was disrupted after nearly 40,000 members were removed from the party’s voter register without notice, Nasheed said in a letter sent to MDP Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail yesterday.
However, Deputy Chairperson Ibrahim Waheed said that MDP members are now expelled from the party only if they sign up for another party unless they request it themselves.
There is a lot of controversy within the party between the faction of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and the faction of Nasheed.
The two presidents have been at odds over the system in power. Nasheed has an interest in becoming prime minister in the middle of the term, but President Solih is openly supporting a presidential system.
Those interested in contesting the primary must submit their forms with the support of 500 party members before 4:00 pm on the 24th of this month.
According to the MDP presidential primary timeline, the final list of candidates will be announced on the 26th of this month.
The list of voters in the presidential primary will be made public and complaints will be opened on the 28th of this month. The deadline for receiving complaints is 31st of this month at 4:00 pm.
The permanent list of voters for the MDP presidential primary will be announced on January 3, 2023. The opportunity will be opened to candidates’ representatives on January 10. The opportunity closes on January 15th.
MDP Presidential Primary 2023 Timeline:
- 18 December 2022– Presidential primary announced
- 18 December 2022 – Presidential Primary
- 24 December 2022– Deadline for acceptance of candidate nomination forms (at 16:00)
- 26 December 2022 – Final list of candidates, with candidate numbers announced
- 28 December 2022 – Presidential Primary Voters List released and open for complaints
- 31 December 2022 – Voters List Complaints Deadline (16:00)
- 03 January 2023 – Presidential Primary Final Voters List Released
- 10 January 2023- Opening of opportunity for candidate representatives
- 15 January 2023– Closing date for candidate representatives
- 28 January 2023– Presidential Primary Voting Day
