Members leave MRM over ‘anti-government stand’

Nearly a dozen Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) members serving positions within Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration left the party on Sunday, pledging their support for his re-election.

The members who resigned are:

• Mohamed Faisal, deputy ambassador to the UAE
• Thazmeel Abdul Samad, managing director of Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC)
• Mohamed Raid, managing director of Maldives Integrated Tourism Development Corporation (MITDC)
• Shazail Shiyam, managing director of Maldive Gas
• Abdul Hameed Ahmed, senior executive director
• Ibrahim Farhad, senior policy director
• Ismail Naail Nasheed, communications director at Heritage Ministry
• Hassan Hayyan Ahmed, MRM exco member

While the eight members, seven of whom serve government jobs, have left MRM, the party still has 23 members in various positions within the administration, including three cabinet ministers.

MRM, founded by former Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has yet to decide whether it will partner with Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) again for the upcoming presidential election. The party is engaged in negotiations with both the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Jumhoory Party (JP) – a party which, like MRM, is part of the current coalition government, but has decided against continuing its partnership with MDP for the election in September.

In a joint statement, the eight members who left MRM on Sunday accused some of the party’s leaders of campaigning against the government.

“These past days, members of the party’s exco and political appointees on this party’s slots have taken an open stand against President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih,” they said.

While some of the party’s founding members and members serving top positions in the current administration want to maintain the coalition, the party’s president Faris Maumoon and some of the council members reportedly wish to leave the coalition.