Motion contesting court’s jurisdiction stalls judgement in MDP primary case

The Civil Court has postponed its decision on issuance of an injunction to hold the results of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s presidential primary after MDP filed a motion claiming the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case submitted to the court seeking to nullify the results of the election.

The contentious MDP primary on January 28 had pitched MDP’s leader and Parliament speaker, former president Mohamed Nasheed against President Solih, who went on to win the election with 61 percent of the votes, paving the path for re-election to a second term in office.

President Solih was presented with the party’s ticket in a ceremony held at the Alimas Carnival in February.

The case contesting the election results was submitted by Ali Amjad. He is represented by Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, who served as attorney general during Nasheed’s administration and had played a leading role in his campaign, and Nasheed’s brother Nazim Abdul Sattar.

He has asked the court to establish that 39,000 members were removed from MDP in violation of regulations – an allegation which Nasheed and his supporters have repeatedly made prior to and after the primary.

The court gave 10 days for the lawyers to provide a response to the motion over the court’s jurisdiction Sunday.

Nasheed refuses to back President Solih in the upcoming presidential election, stating that he does not have the votes to win the election.

MDP has denied the allegation made by Nasheed, insisting that only members registered with other political parties were removed from MDP’s membership. The party said they were given ample time to re-register with MDP.

However, Nasheed alleges that it was a deliberate move to remove his supporters from MDP.

He is working on forming a separate political wing within MDP, under the name ‘Fikuregge Dhirun’ – which had been his campaign slogan for the MDP primary.