Jumhoory Party (JP) has stated that they are not concerned over the resignation of some members of the party following the party’s leader, Qasim Ibrahim’s decision to contest the upcoming presidential election on the party’s ticket.

Some members of JP resigned on Thursday which included MTCC’s CEO, Managing Director Adam Azim who was serving as an advisor to Qasim, Hassan Shah who is serving as MWSC’s Managing Director on a slot of JP in addition to Deputy Minister at Higher Education Aminath Mohamed Saleem.

Their resignation was owed to their decision to support President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in his bid for a second term.

Commenting on the matter, JP’s Secretary General Ali Arif told Sun that only a few members supported the government had tendered their resignation.

Jumhoory Party (JP)'s Secretary General Ali Arif speaks at a press conference on March 5, 2020. 

“Not a lot of people have resigned. Just a few who supports the government. We have no concerns (over this),” he said.

Slamming the members who resigned, Qasim’s advisor Ilham Ibrahim via a tweet said that they were members of the party by name only.

On this note, he detailed the members had not taken part in any of JP’s political activities in the past years. He further accused the members of hoping for a ‘particular thing’ and working to shift the party’s ideology towards a certain direction.

Qasim, who is contesting the election on JP’s ticket, had also been the party’s presidential candidate in 2008 and 2013. He won 15 percent of votes in 2008, and 24 percent of votes in 2013 – not enough to qualify for a second round.

JP rejected President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s invitation to back his re-election and decided to contest the election independently.

Subsequently, many government officials appointed to their posts on JP slots had tendered their resignation including Minister at the President’s Office Ahmed Sameer and Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Ahmed Hussain (Hanafy).

Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) leader, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, who lost the party’s presidential primary to President Solih, has also been unofficially lobbying for Qasim to contest the election. In this regard, MDP members who belong to Nasheed’s faction, Fikuregge Dhirun, have initiated efforts to form a coalition with JP.