Umar: I will not compete in a primary controlled by Yameen

Former Minister of Home Affairs, Umar Naseer – who has announced his intention of participating in Presidential Election 2018 – has declared he will not compete in a primary controlled by President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

Umar said he will ask the congress of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) to appoint a credible

NGO to conduct its primary to choose a candidate for Presidential Election.

“I will not compete in a primary organized by Chair of PPM, President Yameen,” declared Umar.

He took the example of UK where political parties appoint NGOs to conduct primaries, and the example of US where political party primaries are conducted by an independent State body.

“Both democratic party and republican party conducted its primaries for the recent presidential election using the aforementioned procedure,” said Umar.

He said that an election conducted by a political party cannot be free and fair, as evident based on what happened with the opposition party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Umar said he will push forward his request for an NGO to conduct the primary during the next PPM Congress that is held.

“I will request PPM Congress to conduct the primary by appointing a NGO. People may assume this is something I want to introduce by myself when I say this today. But this is the procedure followed by developed countries across the world,” said Umar.