The Democrats clean up MDP HQ, start political activities

The Democrats have begun preparations to clean up Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) former main headquarters and start political activities there.

The newly formed political party, Democrats, commenced the cleaning process of the former MDP main headquarters located in Veyovilage in Henveiru ward, in front of the Artificial Beach area of Malé. Efforts are underway to remove the debris from inside the location and sort out other equipment.

The owner of the building, Shafia Zubair, who was actively involved in MDP activities in the past, has claimed that the agreement for the use of the premises has expired. Shafiya said that she intends to construct a new building on the land where the MDP supporters had previously gathered and held political activities in the Maldives.

However, in the recent internal feud with the party, Shafiya sided with The Democrats, the newly formed party which was created by Nasheed's supporters. Prior to starting the party, they had attempted to create a wing within MDP called "Fikurrege Dhirun," meaning "reviving an ideology"

Last week, Shafia Zubair took possession of the headquarters from MDP and subsequently leased it out to Hussain Amr, the former Managing Director of STO. Amr is aligned with Nasheed in the internal feud within the MDP.

Shafiy said she had rented it out this time to someone who was interested in building a 15-storey building on the land and investing in it. She has said that even though MDP was given the offer to invest in this project, they did not show any interest.

MDP had also filed a petition in the Civil Court seeking an interim injunction to stop the owner's request to vacate the land. The court, however, ruled that such an order could not be passed.

According to the party, there was an agreement in place between the owner of the building and MDP, whereby the rent was paid as per the agreed terms. It was verbally agreed between the owner and MDP that they could use the location as their headquarters until the completion of the presidential election scheduled for September this year.

However, due to differences in opinion MDP accuses that the location was "encroached from them."