PNC resolved to derail some members of their faction from competing the Primary Elections of the Parliament under the claim that sufficient, dedicated service to the party's cause was not provided and attempts were made to create conflict between party members
Under the allegation that some members created conflict within the parties and due service to the party’s cause was not provided, the leading political party PPM Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)/ People’s National Congress (PNC) coalition has resolved to derail some of their members from contending in the primary of the parliamentary elections.
While many members have submitted documents to participate in the Coalition’s primary, the date of the primary has been postponed multiple times with the latest date set being this coming Saturday.
With a week remaining to the primary elections, PNC’s Chairperson Abdul Raheem has issued a letter stating that some members will be stripped of their rights to compete in the primaries. The letter sent to a selected few stated that their conditions for entering were not met due to sufficient service not being provided to the party.
As known at present, most of these selected members received the letters after being informed in advance of the party’s rationale. The letters stating such was addressed to some members that joined the coalition after the Presidential Elections and a few that joined for the primary itself.
Some others received letters stating that their conditions for competing were not met as they had previously performed actions intended to create conflict and division within some members of the parties after adopting an opposite stance towards the government. These letters were addressed to the individuals that proposed to compete in the PNC Primaries after previously aligning with the former President Abdulla Yameen who has since left the party. The exact number of members who were rejected from participating in the Primaries is not known as of yet.
While the decision was made to prevent the participation of some members, many ordinary members had also joined the coalition alongside the contending members. The party says that PNC had concluded the Presidential Elections with a 6000-member register but the member count has seen a significant increase to over 40,000.
PNC has enforced strict conditions and announced that they will adhere to the conditions in the issuance of tickets. These conditions detail the requirement of being a reputable and honest person, the level of experience garnered in the parliament or the earlier functioning special majlis, level of knowledge of the Constitution and other laws, and the level of service dedicated to the party.
Some members whose candidacy was rejected with just a week to go till the primaries expressed their frustrations, with some intending to lodge requests for review of the decision.
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