Court rejects lawsuit seeking MDP primary re-election

The Civil Court has dismissed the lawsuit seeking to annul the results of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential primary.

The contentious MDP primary on January 28 had pitched MDP’s leader and Parliament speaker, former president Mohamed Nasheed against President Ibrahim Mohamed 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 lawsuit contesting the election results was submitted by Ali Amjad. He was 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.

Amjad 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 Civil Court dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday, citing Amjad is not a member of MDP and therefore does not have any claim in the case.

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 running a separate political movement within MDP, under the name ‘Fikuregge Dhirun’ – which had been his campaign slogan for the MDP primary. The movement is engaged in coalition negotiations with Jumhoory Party (JP).