An amendment to the Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) general regulations has been submitted whereby the party Chairperson and office staff can be removed from their responsibilities if questions are raised regarding the fairness of MDPs internal election.
MDPs current general regulation, which was passed in 2022, will see amendments during their congress that will begin tonight, with the most notable change being to the article that states party staff can run in and support their internal elections.
According to their current general regulation, the Chairperson and party secretariat personnel are to equally serve all party members, which means they are not allowed to run in any internal election, and they are not allowed to disclose that they support any candidate running in internal elections and to work for their campaign in any capacity.
This article has been expanded in greater detail, with new additions being made to the article for the new general regulation that is set to be passed on Saturday.
The new regulation states that the Chairperson and secretariat staff are prohibited to run as a candidate in any internal election, and they are prohibited from actively participating in campaigns.
The regulation draft reads as follows:
- If any secretariat personnel wishes to run as a candidate for an internal election, they are to express this in writing to the Chairperson at least one month before the internal election begins.
- If a staff expresses as such, they are to be removed from their responsibilities until the election ends, and if they are elected to the position they ran for, they will be removed from their secretariat position.
- No secretariat staff may support a candidate in an internal election, and they are not allowed to express their support and aid in a campaign in a practical manner.
- If there is a conflict of interest regarding an individual who holds responsibilities as a secretariat staff and they decide to run as a candidate, or if there is a situation where the fairness of the election comes into question, the committee in charge of planning the election will be given the power to prohibit the staff from temporarily fulfilling the responsibilities of their position.
While there are ongoing efforts to include this amendment in the general regulation, current MDP Chairperson former President Mohamed Nasheed is actively taking part in former Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail's campaign, who has announced that he will be running as a candidate for MDPs presidential primary.
It is reported that MDP, which has multiple factions, is working to bring about this amendment so that they can stop Nasheed from being a part of Fayyaz's campaign.
Nasheed has stated previously that running in the presidential race while holding the Chairperson post is what he believes to be the best course of action.
In addition to Fayyaz, former MDP President Abdulla Shahid, former Vice President Faisal Naseem and South Hulhumale' Constituency MP Ahmed Shamheed have all announced they will be running for MDPs presidential ticket.
