The ‘Fikurehge Dhirun’ faction in the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has decided to form a new opposition party.
The faction is led by parliament speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed after his defeat in the party primary.
On Wednesday, 12 MPs who belong to the faction resigned from MDP. Their decision followed the party’s expulsion of an MP a day earlier for backing a no confidence motion.
However, Nasheed still remains in MDP. Nasheed who is also the President of MDP is one of the founding members of the party.
But he has withdrawn support to the government after disagreements with incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The internal disputes created two factions within MDP and Solih won the party’s presidential ticket after defeating Nasheed earlier this year. He also secured party control with his loyalists in the senior party posts.
This meant that Nasheed was unable to carry out political activities within the MDP and was increasingly isolated from the party leadership.
A new opposition party to “revive an ideology”
Nasheed formed the ‘Fikurehge Dhirun’ faction to take back control of the party. However, his loyalists’ in the party have been under pressure for violating the party constitution.
When ‘Fikurehge Dhirun’ is registered as a political party, it will be the new opposition party. Thirteen MPs from the party will hold parliament seats.
At a press briefing Wednesday evening, Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb said the ‘Fikurehge Dhirun’ party will field a candidate for the September 9 presidential election.
He alleged that the ruling MDP has lost its democratic values and has turned into a network of corruption and intimidation.
Through the work we have done inside MDP, we realized that the time has come to quit and form a new party. We discussed and decided to form a new party named ‘Fikurehge Dhirun’ (Reviving an ideology).
He said the paperwork will be complete in the upcoming week and an application will be filed at the elections commission.
Following that, the new party will begin a campaign to collect 3000 signatures needed to officially register.
MDP moves to dismiss deputy speaker
The dozen MPs who quit MDP include deputy speaker Eva Abdulla who had been a senior member of the party since its founding.
She has served three terms in parliament through the MDP ticket. She told reporters on Wednesday that she will not resign from the deputy speaker post.
“I'm not here to defend a post or to win a post. I did not join MDP to remain in the party even when its founding values were falling apart,” she stated.
Adhadhu understands that the MDP parliamentary group has initiated a motion to dismiss her and gained the support of MPs for its submission.
Deputy speaker Eva Abdulla. -- Photo: Mirash Nashim/ Adhadhu
No confidence motions against the speaker and deputy speaker can be submitted with the support of one fourth MPs.That is 22 of 87 seats
According to the constitution, they can be removed with half the votes of 87 MPs. There are currently 56 MDP MPs.
MDP parliamentary group leader Mohamed Aslam told Adhadhu that the speaker and deputy speaker were elected after approval from the MDP congress so it is more ethical to resign before leaving the party.
“If she was politically disciplined, she would resign before leaving the party. It’s regrettable we don’t see that example,” he said.
