Maldives opposition to begin inquest into chastening election defeats

The Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has decided on Wednesday evening to conduct a inquest into its successive defeats in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Speaking to reporters after the party's National Assembly held on Wednesday evening to discuss the reasons for the election failure and the party's future, MDP Chairman Fayyaz Ismail said the next step would be decided after the inquest.

He said the inquest would also look at people's views on the future of the party and how the party would be shaped.

“We first want to see what all this is really,” he told reporters after the National Assembly meeting, which was closed to the media.

"I want to see whether it [the defeat] was the way we conducted the campaign or whether it was a leadership issue or what changes have taken place in the political environment in Maldives.

Current MDP President and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid said this is not the first time the party has lost an election.

“We will reorganise ourselves and move forward together to serve the people in accordance with the MDP's philosophy,” Shahid said.

The meeting was chaired by the party chairman Fayyaz Ismail. Former President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih, who is commonly seen in the party's leadership and is MDP’s advisor, did not attend the meeting.

While the MDP National Assembly met on Wednesday evening, people on social media had called for the resignation of the party's leadership following the defeat in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

 MDP won only 12 out of 93 seats in the parliamentary elections. The rival and ruling PNC won 66 seats.