MDP chair contender says grassroots reject a chair who tilts the presidential race

Meekail Ahmed Naseem, who is campaigning for the MDP’s chairmanship, said Monday that the party’s general membership does not want a chairperson who will work to facilitate the presidential ambitions of any particular candidate.

The MDP is preparing to hold its chairperson election on June 12. Meekail and former President Mohamed Nasheed are the two candidates contesting the post.

Nasheed is campaigning alongside former Chairman Fayyaz Ismail, with Nasheed backing Fayyaz’s presidential ticket and both promoting a platform of systemic change.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Meekail said his “Trust” campaign began its first island visits last week. He described the trip as highly successful and said three key concerns were repeatedly raised by MDP members.

Meekail said the first concern was frustration over what happened in the lead‑up to the 2023 presidential election. He said former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s bid for a second term failed due to internal divisions within the party.

During Solih’s administration, Nasheed had strongly pushed for a vote to change the system of government. The disagreements over the issue, and the loss of the presidential ticket, led to the formation of two factions, one aligned with Nasheed and the other with Solih. Nasheed’s supporters later left the party and formed a new political party. During that period, Nasheed made serious allegations against Solih and his government and said he intended to dissolve the MDP. Solih’s defeat in the 2023 election was widely attributed to the party split. Nasheed returned to the MDP in June last year.

Meekail said ordinary members now believe the MDP can only win the 2028 presidential election if it remains united.

He said the campaign tour made it clear that members do not want anything that could deepen divisions within the party or create further rifts among its leaders.

The third concern, Meekail said, was that members do not want a chairperson who would use the position to facilitate the presidential race for a particular candidate.

“The reason they don’t want this is because, if the party is united, everyone has a fair chance. Only if the elected chairperson remains neutral can the party be structured in a way that gives space to everyone. It is becoming clear to us that members want a neutral person as chairperson,” he said.

Referring to Nasheed’s campaign, Meekail also commented on the case filed in the Civil Court seeking to nullify the MDP’s election timeline. He said the case was filed by the “rival team” and that taking internal party matters to court goes against the MDP’s founding principles.

He said the MDP has always been a party that resolves issues through votes and gives ordinary members the right to decide.

“Therefore, I am very sorry that our rival team is trying to take away the internal interests of the party and file a case in the Civil Court,” he said.

He added that the chairperson election must proceed according to the party’s rules and timeline.