Main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s former chairperson Moosa Manik (Reeko) has questioned whether the party’s incumbent chairperson, Fayyaz Ismail, had worked against MDP’s presidential candidate, then-president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, during the last presidential elections.
There is immense competition within MDP for 2028’s presidential race with several individuals eyeing the party’s presidential ticket.
Fayyaz, who has expressed interest in running for the presidential ticket, met with former president Mohamed Nasheed on Monday, who is also considering a return to the office. Fayyaz has stated that they did not discuss the presidential election during the meeting.
Speaking on SSTV’s ‘Baaru Hathareh’ program about the internal competition within the MDP for its presidential primary, Reeko questioned whether it was appropriate for someone holding the position of MDP chairperson to be engaging with members of The Democrats — a party that had opposed MDP in the last presidential election.
“Although we have differences in political ideology, President Nasheed and I are not strangers. We talk. However, is this in the best interest of MDP?” he questioned.
Reeko also questioned Fayyaz on why he allowed internal conflicts within the MDP to escalate, ultimately leading to members leaving the party to form The Democrats, without making an effort to resolve the issues. He questioned whether this was done deliberately, to hurt MDP’s election chances.
“I wonder if Fayyaz’s thinking back then had been to ensure President Solih does not win. Whether it was done to ensure President (Dr. Mohamed) Muizzu wins instead,” he said.
Reeko emphasized that MDP needs to resolve its internal conflicts before targeting to resolve national issues.
In this regard, he said MDP must eliminate the internal factions that have emerged as a result of competition for the presidential ticket. According to Reeko, apart from Nasheed and Fayyaz, former president Solih, MDP’s leader Abdulla Shahid and South Hulhumale’ MP Mohamed Shamheed are also eyeing presidential elections.
Fayyaz said if their focus remains more on securing the presidential ticket than on actually managing the party, it would be far better to hand over the party’s operations to its general members.
Nasheed is one of the founding members of the MDP.
In 2018, he backed a successful campaign to hoist Solih to power, after he was ruled out of contention due to a conviction that was later overturned.
But as it drew closer to the 2023 presidential election, tensions arose between him and Solih, both of whom eyed the MDP’s ticket for the election. The rivalry between them created a rift within the MDP, culminating in Nasheed and those loyal to him leaving the party in June 2023, to form a new party, The Democrats.
This rift is widely believed to be one of the main reasons for MDP’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election. The Democrats had refused to back MDP during the runoff.
Reeko, who had previously been dismissed from MDP, worked against the party by joining the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) for the 2018 presidential elections.