Adhurey: Best choice for the nation is to stand by President Muizzu

Special advisor the president and the chairperson of ruling PNC Abdul Raheem Abdulla (Adhurey), on Friday night, remarked that the best choice for the Maldivian nation and its citizens is to stand by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

He made the remark in a post on X, after former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom’s departure from PPM, the PNC administration’s coalition partner, to form a new political party after conflicts came to a boil within the coalition.

In his post, Abdul Raheem said PPM and PNC are two parties that always “put the nation first”. He added that the coalition remained steadfast in standing by President Muizzu, in accordance with the people’s decision.

“By the will of God, President Muizzu’s administration will be a government that brings happiness and prosperity to the Maldivian nation and its people. Without turning back, we will be walking forward,” he added.

He further said it was the best course of action for Maldivian citizens to continue to stand by President Muizzu.

“Our nation is bigger than every one of us,” he stressed.

Abdul Raheem had been the closest aid to Yameen in the political field all these years, from all the way back since People’s Alliance (PA), the former party of Yameen, before he joined PPM.

When Yameen was sentenced to prison during the former administration – it had been Abdul Raheem who assumed the post of acting leader of the PPM-PNC coalition. Up till the presidential election, it had been Abdul Raheem who oversaw the affairs of the coalition, in line with Yameen’s instructions.

Yameen had instructed the coalition to boycott the presidential election when he was declared ineligible to contest in light of his prison conviction. However, as this was not a course of action acceptable to the general members of the coalition, Abdul Raheem commences efforts to produce an additional candidate from the coalition.

He is among the individuals who had undertaken the most significant efforts to ensure President Muizzu’s election victory.

Major conflicts arose between Yameen and President Muizzu after his election victory.

Yameen, on Thursday night, announced his departure from PPM citing the PPM-PNC coalition’s leadership’s refusal to follow his instruction in the affairs of both the coalition and the government and seek his counsel. 

Despite efforts to form a new political party, his prison conviction will not allow him to actively be involved in political activities.

Freeing Yameen had been one of the biggest electoral pledges of President Muizzu. A day after his election, Muizzu paved the way for Yameen to be transferred to home confinement from prison. The terms of his confinement were significantly eased afterward as well.