"MDP is with President Solih," party Chairperson Fayyaz affirms

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail said on Wednesday night that the party was prepared to back and support President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih through his presidential campaign despite the fact that there are some disagreements within the party since he won its primary election.

Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, who lost the MDP's primary election held on January 28 to President Solih, does not accept the results. His team has filed a case with the Civil Court to stop the handover of the presidential ticket to Solih and to order the primary election be held again.

Regarding the election, Fayyaz admitted that there was some disgruntlement among MDP members about the election results during its national congress meeting held on Wednesday night. He said that he was saddened by the events and that MDP will continue to finalise its decisions based on the democratic principles the party has always campaigned for.

"We are implementing things we have always campaigned for. It is human nature to be unhappy with the changes brought by results," Fayyaz said, speaking to the press.

He said that even if there is this dissatisfaction, things will go according to the party's rules and regulations. Fayyaz said he would do whatever was necessary to strengthen the party.

"And even if this party contests alone to elect its candidate or with all other political parties in the country, we will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure that our candidate wins in September 2023," he said.

Fayyaz said giving MDP's presidential candidate and incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih the power to negotiate with other parties to form a coalition for the presidential election would make it easier for the party to win the election.

In the presidential primary, the President won with 61 percent of the votes over Nasheed's 38.9 percent.

Nasheed maintains that the results were won because the party expelled 39,000 of its members, adding that he decided not to support the president in the election.

He has been running his own political movement within the party called "Fikuregge Dhirun," which translates to "reviving an ideology." This was also his campaign slogan during the election. The movement has already amassed over 50,000 supporters, according to Nasheed's team.