Former president and PPM leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom waves to his supporters outside the PPM Office. PHOTO/MIHAARU
As the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has not officially voted out the former president and PPM founder Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as the party’s leader, he still holds the title, the former president’s office has claimed.
Former President Maumoon’s office released a statement on Wednesday clarifying the “confusions amongst different platforms about the leadership of the ruling party.”
The statement declared that Maumoon was elected as PPM’s leader with a clear majority from the party’s national congress, and that he will remain as the leader until the party officially votes to remove him.
The statement came after PPM’s deputy leader and Fonadhoo MP Abdul Raheem Abdullah expressed concern about former President Maumoon using the title of “PPM leader” on official documents.
The former president of 30 years in the statement asked the party’s current leadership to refer to PPM’s regulations on how to remove a leader and follow through if they want to remove him from the post.
“PPM’s regulations clearly stipulate the procedure to remove its leader. The party’s leader can only be ousted if a no-confidence vote against the leader is won with over two-thirds majority from the party’s national congress,” the statement read.
The incumbent president Abdulla Yameen’s half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, had also taken some credit for making PPM one of the biggest political parties in the country today.
Maumoon’s son and Dhiggaru MP Faris Maumoon was recently under fire for using the PPM flag without the party’s permission at an opposition rally. However, he had defended the claim by saying that he had used it with the permission of the “party’s leader”, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.