Shahid Blames Deputy Chair for Failed Vote as Waheed Rejects MDP Interim Chair Role

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) president Abdulla Shahid has asked for the party’s National Council to reconvene after saying the process to elect an interim chairperson was lost during a contentious sitting last Friday.

In a letter to deputy chairperson Ibrahim Waheed, Shahid said the procedure for electing a temporary successor to former chairperson Fayyaz Ismail had not been properly concluded at Friday’s National Council meeting, and requested that the council meet again to complete the vote. He appealed to senior figures not to act in ways that could harm the party’s interests as local council elections approach.

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Friday’s sitting was convened to elect an interim chairperson, with three names proposed for the role: former Speaker Mohamed Aslam, former Dhidhdhoo MP Abdulla Waheed, and Hanimaadhoo MP Abdul Ghafoor Moosa. The meeting became heated when the chair ruled Aslam ineligible to contest on the grounds that he is not a member of the National Council, prompting strong objections from some members.

The dispute deepened during the vote. Abdulla Waheed received 48 votes. Those in the hall initially counted 96 members present, and the chair ruled that this tally did not meet the required majority, announcing that no candidate had been elected. The sitting broke down amid disagreements over procedure and numbers, and was ultimately abandoned without a clear outcome.

Supporters of Waheed argued that he had in fact secured the necessary majority. Their view was later reflected in a report issued by deputy chairperson Ibrahim Waheed, who stated that one member had left the room before the vote, meaning 95 members, excluding the chair, participated. On that basis, he said, the simple majority required was 48, which Abdulla Waheed had obtained.

Shahid did not explicitly reject the deputy chair’s account in his letter, but maintained that the overall process had been lost due to how the sitting was conducted and therefore could not be treated as concluded. He requested that the National Council be reconvened to finalise the election in a proper and undisputed manner. “As the local council elections are approaching, I sincerely ask everyone not to act in a way that could harm the party’s internal interests,” he wrote.

The letter follows Abdulla Waheed’s decision, announced a day earlier, to refuse the interim chairperson role, despite his backers’ insistence that he was validly elected. In his statement, Waheed said he had agreed to contest the position after being encouraged by a member of the MDP parliamentary group, and that he had consulted both Shahid and former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih before putting his name forward.

He said he no longer believed he could discharge the responsibilities of interim chairperson because of the conduct of those who had urged him to run. He argued that the actions of the party president, the party’s adviser and members of the parliamentary group who supported him would create obstacles to performing the role. Waheed said he was refusing the position “to keep the party united” and urged Shahid and Solih to avoid such behaviour in future and to work together to preserve the party’s strength.

The latest developments come against the backdrop of long-running internal tensions within the MDP. The party has been shaped for years by rivalry between factions aligned with former presidents Mohamed Nasheed and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, including disputes over key posts and electoral strategy. That rift intensified ahead of the 2023 presidential election, when Nasheed and his supporters left to form The Democrats and campaigned strongly against Solih, an effort widely seen inside the MDP as having contributed to the party’s defeat. Many members of Nasheed’s faction have since returned, energising but also complicating the party’s internal dynamics.

According to party figures, these alignments were reflected in the interim chair race, with Waheed seen as being supported by figures linked to Nasheed’s camp, while Aslam is regarded as the preferred option of those close to Solih. The party is also understood to be divided over its preferred presidential candidate for 2028.