Fuvahmulah, Maldives – Former President and MDP President Mohammed Nasheed has been given a warm welcome from Fuvahmulah City this morning.
Speaker Nasheed flew to Fuvahmulah on a campaign trip for this year’s presidential primary of Maldivian Democratic Party.
Maldivian Democratic Party announced to hold their presidential primaries on 28th of this month.
While both Speaker Nasheed and President Solih are contesting, Nasheed got candidate number 1 and President Solih, got candidate number 2.
Nasheed, who launched his presidential primary campaign on December 28, 2022, with the campaign slogan “Fikurehge dhirun” – translating in to ”birth of an ideology,” – at a rally in Sultan Park, said he was contesting the election because it was very clear that the MDP would get fewer votes if President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih became the presidential candidate.
Speaker Nasheed’s campaign rallies have been very critical of the President and the government.
Nasheed has accused the government of not fulfilling its promises and of removing members who support President Nasheed from the party register.
The expulsion of thousands of members from the party while an election looming was a crime committed to rig the election, according to Nasheed’s campaign team. The team has also submitted a request to the MDP to investigate the matter.
Speaking at the campaign rally, Nasheed said the election could not be won by cheating. Otherwise, the then President Abdullah Yameen would have been elected for a second term in the 2018 elections, he said.
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
