MDP Chairperson Fayyaz resigns

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail resigned from the post last night. 

The resignation was announced at last night's MDP National Council meeting. 

Fayyaz has previously announced that he will be running for president in 2028, and stated that he will ensure equal opportunities are granted to all candidates running for the MDP ticket for presidency. 

"That is the pledge he has fulfilled tonight," a source close to Fayyaz stated. 

Fayyaz was elected as Chairperson in one of the most competitive internal elections the party has held, on May 14, 2022. Fayyaz won the position with 27,900 votes out of about 50,000. He was running against then Member of Parliament for North Maafannu Imthiyaz Fahmy, who received 20,425 votes. 

Even at the time of this internal election, MDP had been split into two factions. Fayyaz ran with the endorsement of then President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's faction. Imthiyaz was backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed's faction. 

On June 25 this year, Fayyaz announced his intention to contest in the 2028 presidential election. 

The party is also seeing strong campaigning now for the upcoming local election, with the Male' Mayor post being most competitive. Current Mayor Adam Azim and former MP Ali Azim are the contenders for the MDP ticket. While Adam Azim appears to be backed by supporters of Solih, Ali Azim is running with backing from Nasheed supporters.