MDP sets up committee to finalize roadmap for reform; Fayyaz appointed chair

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has set up a committee to finish work on a roadmap to make changes to the main opposition party’s bylaws and organizational structure, and appointed Fayyaz Ismail as the chairperson of the committee.

The MDP had decided to draw up a reform roadmap to strengthen the party back in 2024, following the party’s defeat in the 2023 presidential elections.

Fayyaz, who was serving as the party’s chairperson back then, had resigned in November 2025.

In an announcement on Wednesday, the MDP said its secretariat had finished drafting the reform roadmap on May 2, 2024, and that the party’s new chairperson, former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, has established a 10-member committee to finalize it.

Fayyaz has been appointed as the chairperson of the committee.

The 10-member committee is composed of:

• Fayyaz Ismail, chairperson
• Former defense minister Mariya Ahmed Didi
• Former North Maafannu MP Imthiyaz Fahmy
• North Hithadhoo MP Abdulla Sodiq (Soabe)
• MDP’s legal director Mauroof Ahmed
• MDP’s deputy chairperson (administrative) Ibrahim Waheed
• Former Alifushi MP Mohamed Rasheed Hussain
• MDP deputy chairperson (finance) Ahmed Abdulla
• MDP’s former legal director Mahfooz Saeed
• Former North Kulhudhuffushi MP Yasir Abdul Latheef

Back in June 2024, Fayyaz said that Maldives’ political landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years, and that the MDP needs to make changes in response.

He said that institutionalizing the party was crucial to developing the country’s democracy.

In a press briefing earlier this week, Nasheed said the MDP was preparing to hold its congress in September.

The MDP, which suffered heavy blows in the 2023 presidential elections as well as the 2024 parliamentary elections, emerged victorious in the local council elections held this year, securing a majority of seats in councils across the country, including all cities.