MDP doubles down on Muizz's extremist link accusations
What Muizz is doing in the name of a candidate endorsed by Yameen is, as Mariya described it, fraudulent.
By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
Campaign team of the ruling MDP presidential candidate, President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih, has again made accusations against the main opposition PPM-PNC presidential candidate Dr Mohamed Muizz, linking him to religious conservative organisation called Jamiyyath al-Salaf.
'Ibu Aslam 2023' campaign spokesperson, defence minister Mariya Ahmed Didi held a 30-minute press conference on Thursday. She repeated the MDP's claims that Muizz is a Salaf candidate and made further allegations.
Beginning the press conference at the presidential campaign office in the Shinetree Building where Salt Cafe is located, Mariya said she wanted to see who Muizz was. As such, she said:
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From 2008 to 2010, Muizz was in the JP
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From 2010 to 2012, he was a member of the Adhaalath Party
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From 2012 to 2013, he was in the National Alliance Party
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From 2013 until late last month, he was then in the PPM; he was elected mayor of Male while serving as Vice President of the PPM
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Within 24 hours, he signed up to PPM's affiliate PNC, contested and won the party's ticket
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When he was running for mayor of Male, he was a city man in that campaign, but when he arrived in HA. Vashafaru, he became a Vashafaru resident; wherever he goes Muizz is "changing his appearance like an octopus”
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Although he claims he will release PPM-PNC leader, former President Abdullah Yameen, who could not contest the election on the PPM ticket due to his 11-year jail sentence, there is no possible legal basis for his release
'People view Muizz as Salaf candidate'
Asked whether Muizz would win the election in a single round, Mariya said the number of PNC and Salaf members is known to everyone.
"We hear that the Salaf want the education portfolio. So, they have not yet said what syllabus we will teach in the schools," she said.
If "Salaf's candidate Muizz" comes to power, women will not have the opportunity to speak out, she said.
When asked why she repeatedly describes Muizz as a candidate of the Salaf organisation, she said that everyone who supports Muizz supports him as the candidate of Salaf.
"So, we see him as a PNC-Salaf candidate. Then again, there is interest in handing over the education ministry to them. We hear about things like this. So, we have not heard of any other group handing over a particular ministry or doing anything”, Mariya explained.
Another reason she described is that the Salaf is campaigning with the PNC.
She said that when the MDP campaign team goes door-to-door during, the people of the households say that Muizz is a Salaf candidate. They are also saying that they will not vote for Muizz because he is not the candidate representing PPM President Yameen but is the candidate of the Salaf.
At a press conference held last week as the MDP's campaign spokesperson, Mariya also labelled Muizz as a Salaf candidate.
