‘Agitators’ sent to MDP, will suffer in council elections: Falaah

Ruling People's National Congress (PNC) parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Falaah has said that five "agitators" have been sent to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), warning that the party will suffer heavy losses in next year’s local council elections.

Speaking in Parliament today, Falaah said that following a shake-up of MDP in 2023, former President Mohamed Nasheed was now attempting to strengthen the party.

“Nasheed will try to assemble MDP again, but we have sent five agitators to MDP,” Falaah said.

“MDP will see severe losses in the upcoming local council elections. They will lose completely.”

Falaah's comments come amid a reshuffle in opposition ranks, with senior members of The Democrats, founded by Nasheed after splitting from MDP, rejoining MDP.

The Democrats resolved yesterday to dissolve the party and rejoin MDP. The decision was made at an informal meeting of the party’s national assembly. The resolution stated that unifying efforts with MDP was the best strategy to strengthen the opposition, restore public faith in multi-party democracy, and hold the government accountable.

The internal rift that led to the formation of The Democrats has been widely seen by MDP members as a key reason for the party’s loss in the 2023 presidential election. The split followed tensions between then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Nasheed, then president of MDP. Nasheed later formed The Democrats and fielded Ilyas Labeeb as their presidential candidate.

Nasheed joined The Democrats on 13 July 2023, warning at the time that he would disband MDP.