Nasheed: Non-supporters of President Solih removed from MDP registry

Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Leader, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has alleged that those removed from MDP’s registry in the name of ‘clearing’ the registry are members who are not supporters of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Nasheed said that MDP’s most important pillar is independent and fair elections.

“President Solih has removed over 39,000 members from the party. The list needs to be cleared. But he removed members who would not vote for him,” Nasheed said.

Despite Nasheed’s allegations – MDP’s Deputy Chairperson Ibrahim Waheed (Iburey) told Sun that the party’s members were informed that the party’s registry consisted of a lot of people that belonged to other political parties before the resolution on clearing the registry was put forth to the National Council. He added that those who have been removed from MDP’s registry at present are those who are not listed in Elections Commission’s (EC) registry as MDP members.

Iburey also said that when the eligible list of voters for the internal elections of the party was publicized on April 21, 2021 – it was noted that the list comprised of many belonging to other political parties following which these details were shared.

In this regard, MDP’s registry back then included 17,057 people who are members of other political parties and 24,033 people who have not been registered with any political party.

However, after over 39,000 members were removed from MDP’s registry – many general members have complained alleging that those removed included people who were registered to other parties ‘without their knowledge’ through fake forms.

While MDP’s registry has become a heated topic over the past few days – the party has urged those who have been removed from the party before registering with another political party to submit their complaints and reinstate their membership.

The main ruling party’s primary for next year’s presidential election was announced on Sunday, at a time the party has been divided into two factions – in a major internal conflict. One faction rally behind Nasheed, while the other, President Solih.