Political Parties Have Left Citizens in Deep Debt Over Two Decades, Says Umar Naseer 

Former Home Minister Umar Naseer has criticised political parties in the Maldives, claiming they have burdened the public with unsustainable debt over the past two decades.

Speaking on SSTV’s ‘Baaru Hathareh’ programme, Umar said that Maldivians have spent 20 years testing different political parties, only to find that each one has prioritised its own interests over the country’s welfare. He argued that the multi-party system has failed the nation and described political parties as a barrier to national progress.

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According to Umar, successive governments have failed to honour their pledges, instead using state resources to reward their own supporters once in power. He claimed that this has led to significant national debt and the mismanagement of public assets, including jobs, land, and uninhabited islands.

He said the country’s financial condition has deteriorated under the leadership of political parties, and warned that the Maldives could continue to regress if the current system remains unchanged.

Umar said the Maldives is approaching a point where the public may reject political parties altogether. He advocated for voters to focus on the capability of individual candidates rather than party affiliation and called for strong leadership to address the damage caused by what he described as years of political negligence.

Umar Naseer has previously run for the presidency as an independent candidate in both the 2008 and 2023 elections, but did not advance to the runoff stage on either occasion. In 2013, he lost the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) primary to Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who later won the presidential election. Umar was appointed Home Minister under Yameen’s administration but eventually resigned from the post.