Nasheed commends Fayyaz following exit as MDP chair

Former President Mohamed Nasheed on Sunday praised the work of Fayyaz Ismail, who resigned as Chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Fayyaz submitted a detailed letter to members of the MDP National Assembly explaining that he resigned to avoid becoming an obstacle to party affairs.

Following the announcement, Nasheed wrote on X that Fayyaz had worked for the party from its early days and had faced jail when required.

“I wish Fayyaz more success with the party,” Nasheed said, tagging him in the post.

In his letter, Fayyaz noted that then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Nasheed were expected to contest the party’s presidential primary held in January 2023.

“The outcome of the contest by the two men led many to believe that a situation may arise that we may later regret. This appeared to me as a serious threat to the future of the party and the country as a whole,” Fayyaz wrote.

Fayyaz, who served as Economic Minister in the previous administration, said he met Nasheed’s team five times at Nasheed’s request to discuss the primary, Nasheed’s possible withdrawal, a planned vote on the system of governance before the presidential election, and the MDP’s position on the parliamentary model.

“However, the two sides could not reach a satisfactory agreement and the meetings were stopped,” he said.

Talks later resumed at the request of Solih, he said. An agreement was reached not to hold a presidential primary and to ask the public to vote on the system of governance preferred by the Maldives ahead of the presidential election. According to Fayyaz, the MDP agreed not to take sides in that vote.

“However, a few days later some senior party leaders believed that they should not proceed as agreed with President Nasheed,” he said.

Fayyaz wrote that by the end of the primary process, years of reform work had stalled and long-standing colleagues had become divided.

“This party, which was a family, split and lost the presidential election,” he said.