President to Nasheed: MDP does not belong to any single person

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) does not belong to any single person, states President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, in an indirect response to his rival for the main ruling party’s presidential ticket, MDP’s leader and Parliament speaker, former president Mohamed Nasheed.

In a campaign rally in GA. Vilingili on Sunday, President Solih said that his had been the second signature on the form to register MDP.

He said that throwing unfounded accusations at members who made huge sacrifices to establish MDP was of no benefit to anyone.

“I was the second person who sign for MDP… Then came the others,” he said.

Nasheed is driving his election campaign on the contention that MDP has lost its core values and is no longer recognizable.

At Sunday’s rally, President Solih said that MDP was founded on the sacrifices of many, and does not belong to any single person.

“It is of no benefit to this party to throw accusations at people who sacrificed for this party, just to push the agenda of a specific person. It is of no benefit to this party or they themselves,” he said.

President Solih said that the people who sacrificed the most for MDP were forgotten and sidelined.

“Numerous people sacrificed for this party. Some may have forgotten this, when they sometimes stay away from the party. But MDP became the biggest political party of Maldives with the contribution of many,” he said.

President Solih said that his administration’s policy of bringing development to all islands, without discrimination, had won MDP majority in Vilingili, which described as a former fort of opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

He said that he saw it as the people’s acceptable of the “equitable development” his administration brought to Maldives.

“The majority in Vilingili has shifted to MDP due to the equitable development we brought,” he said.

He asked for MDP members to vote for him in the MDP primary on January 28 to ensure Maldives remains on the development track.

President Solih travelled to Vilingili on Sunday evening. He is set to conclude his current campaign tour and return to Male’ on Sunday night.

57,255 MDP members are eligible to vote in the primary.