Nareesh to serve as acting Male’ mayor

The Male’ City Council has decided to transfer the duties of the mayor over to deputy mayor Ahmed Nareesh, as the incumbent mayor, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, gets ready to take office as the next Maldivian president, after having won the runoff election last weekend.

The decision was made at a council meeting - Muizzu’s last one as the mayor - on Wednesday morning.

The opposition PPM-PNC’s Muizzu won the presidential runoff election held on Saturday with 54 percent of votes, beating MDP’s Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the incumbent president, who won 46 percent.

Nareesh, a member of the PPM senate, had been heavily involved in Muizzu’s presidential campaign, accompanying him on many of the tours to islands.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Muizzu said he will remain the mayor until he takes office as the president on November 17, but needs time to get ready for the transfer of power, during the transition period.

Muizzu said he has decided to transfer all the duties of running the Male’ City Council to Nareesh.

“I need to invest full time on the transition. During this transition period, I need to study and assist in the running of the committees, collect information, and analyze and plan. I may not be fully prepared when taking office, otherwise,” he said.

Muizzu said that he will therefore not be able to properly fulfil his day-to-day responsibilities as the mayor, and that it would be unfair to the people of Male’ City.

Nareesh congratulated Muizzu on winning the election, and requested for the first council he meets upon taking office to be the Male’ City Council.

Muizzu said that he will continue to maintain close relations with the council after taking office. He also promised to provide his full cooperation to the council.