MP Siraj joins PPM

Fonadhoo MP Moosa Siraj has joined the main opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Siraj signed for the PPM during a campaign rally for the PPM-PNC’s presidential candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu in L. Gan on Monday night.

In addition to Siraj, a number of longtime members of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) also joined the PPM, including L. Atoll Council’s president Ismail Ali.

Siraj, who won the Fonadhoo parliamentary seat on a MDP ticket, announced his support for Muizzu on August 21, hours after he announced his decision to leave the main ruling party.

Siraj’s decision to leave MDP had come after months of speculation that he was unhappy with MDP.

Siraj had been seen as a staunch ally of the party’s then-leader Mohamed Nasheed, before he suddenly withdrew his support to the former president, and endorsed President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s candidacy for MDP’s presidential ticket.

President Solih went on to defeat Nasheed in the vote, which took place in January.

However, Siraj had not been involved in MDP’s political activities since then.

A former attorney, whose clients included the former Maldivian vice president Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor, Siraj was elected to the Parliament in 2019, unseating then Fonadhoo MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla (Adhurey) who is now the interim leader of the PPM-PNC coalition, by a small margin.