The People's National Congress (PNC), which will contest next year's parliamentary elections as the ruling party, can win a supermajority of Parliament, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said last night.
Speaking at a ceremony held to officially open the new PNC office, President Muizzu - who is also the party's President - said the PNC would work together with sister party Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and campaign broadly across the country.
"God willing, the result of that will be all of us, the PPM-PNC, together succeeding and reaching a supermajority of Parliament with a big result in the upcoming election in the country," the President said.
Challenges will be faced in the effort and challenges also exist at present, he said.
"There will be challenges. There are challenges even now. Challenges should be a source of encouragement for our progress," the President said.
He urged activists of both parties to talk to all voters, saying that the intention was to work for the betterment and progress of the people.
The PNC office was opened on the seventh floor of the Sea Trac building.
The PNC office was previously operated under the same roof as coalition ally PPM in Henveiru Hurafa.
After a rift emerged between President Muizz and former President Abdulla Yameen, the coalition's previous leader, the PNC office was temporarily operated out of a meeting hall in the Carnival.
A spacious new office for the PNC would enable the party to function better, Muizzu said in his remarks at the ceremony. The PNC was now active as a party for the first time, he added.
After the new office was opened, the PPM-PNC's joint senate held a meeting and decided to appoint Muizzu as the leader of both parties. The role was previously held by former President Yameen, who is now in the process of forming a new party.
Yameen formed the PNC in late 2018 as a "backup party" amid legal challenges to his leadership of the PPM.
Shortly after the new administration assumed office, Yameen left the PPM after accusing the government of sidelining him. Muizzu came to power in a coup after deceiving him, Yameen alleged.
At Wednesday night's meeting, the PPM-PNC joint senate also approved rules for conducting primaries to award tickets for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The rules state that both primary candidates and voters must have signed for either party before December 10.
The PPM-PNC has previously agreed that members of coalition partners Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) and Maldives National Party (MNP) could contest in the primaries to seek PPM-PNC tickets, Abdul Raheem Abdulla - Special Advisor to President Muizzu - said at a press conference last night.
Discussions for a similar arrangement also took place with the Jumhooree Party (JP) but talks have stalled after the party could not agree to some of the PPM-PNC's proposals, Abdul Raheem said.
