Supporters commence efforts to elect Qasim for presidency

Jumhoory Party’s general members and activists have kicked off a presidential campaign to elect the party’s leader, Qasim Ibrahim, for presidency.

As the presidential election scheduled for September 8^th continue to heat up – some council members of Jumhoory Party has kicked off a campaign to garner support for Qasim through tweets with the hashtags ‘Qasim2023’ and ‘Hope for the Nation’.

However, neither Qasim nor Jumhoory Party has officially announced his candidacy.

Jumhoory Party which is currently the third largest political party in the Maldives comprises of approximately 18,000 members. Decisions regarding the upcoming presidential election will be made by the party’s national council at its next convening.

The party’s Spokesperson Ali Solih told Sun on Sunday that Jumhoory Party’s decisions regarding the presidential election would be made at the party’s national council convening scheduled for next month. He emphasized that no official decision has yet been taken by the party with respect to the election.

“Party’s articles of association, the party, council members and general members wish for Qasim to compete. Nevertheless, the party’s leader is saying a decision will be taken during a convening of the national council,” he said.

Ali Solih said that the whole of Jumhoory Party wishes for Qasim to compete in the presidential election However, he said the decision would be finalized by the national council.

From the three presidential elections held following the ratification of the new constitution – Jumhoory Party’s leader Qasim Ibrahim contested in 2008 and 2013’s elections. He failed to secure enough votes to qualify for a second round.

Jumhoory Party has played a prominent role in forming coalitions in the second rounds of all the presidential election. The three governments that were elected under the new constitution were coalitions to which Jumhoory Party was a part of.