Mohamed Shifaz of The Democrats has described the Maldivian Democratic Alliance (MDA)’s decision to support Mohamed Muizzu, the Progressive Party of the Maldives-endorsed People’s National Congress (PPM/PNC) candidate, in the second round of the presidential election as unbecoming. MDA had initially supported incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate, in the first round.
The coalition with the ruling MDP was dissolved at the MDA council meeting held Tuesday with the motion receiving a large majority of 33 votes.
“The MDA’s ugly act has once again shaken the trust of the people in the political party system and I don’t think it should be done by a political party,” Shifaz posted on social media.
MDA actions come at a time when party leader Ahmed Siyam Mohamed had, on 4 September, said that he was not a turncoat and would not abandon President Solih.
“I am not a two-faced person. I am steadfast with Ibrahim Mohammed Solih. I will certainly not leave Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and go anywhere in the next five years,” Siyam had said.
The MDP formed a coalition with the MDA and Adhaalath Party (AP) in the first round of the September 9 presidential election with Siyam present at several of the three-party coalition campaign events.
The switch comes just three days before the second round of the presidential elections.
Malé Mayor Mohamed Muizzu, the PPM/PNC candidate, and incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the MDP candidate, having garnered the most votes in the first round with 46 percent and 39 percent respectively, will compete for the nation’s top job in the second round runoff of the presidential elections on Saturday, 30 September.
