Fayyaz says he and Nasheed focused on reforms, did not discuss election

Fayyaz Ismail, the chairperson of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), says that talks during his meeting with former president Mohamed Nasheed earlier on Monday focused on reforms needed to put the Maldives back on the right track, and that the two did not discuss the upcoming 2028 presidential election, which both of them have expressed interest in contesting.

Nasheed, who currently lives overseas, had met with Fayyaz, one of the most influential figures within his former party MDP, for lunch with several members of his new party the Democrats on Monday afternoon, upon return to Male’ for a visit.

The meeting comes less than two weeks after Nasheed sent a message to several politicians, including those from the MDP, saying that he was considering contesting the 2028 election. Meanwhile, Fayyaz had announced his intention to contest MDP’s primary for the 2028 presidential election back in November last year.

Fayyaz told Sun that he and Nasheed engaged on in-depth discussions regarding a wide range of topics over lunch.

“We discussed what we can do together to improve the country’s situation,” he said.

But one thing they did not discuss is the upcoming election.

When asked if they discussed that subject, Fayyaz replied that “there was no discussion regarding the election.”

Monday’s meeting was also attended by Democrats’ incumbent president Imthiyaz Fahmy (Inthi), former Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim, and Democrats’ former president Hassan Latheef, who recently returned to the MDP.

In December 2023, Nasheed announced he was taking “a respite from active politics” to assume a new post in Ghana as the secretary general of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).

But in January this year, Nasheed said that he hasn’t completely moved away from politics despite his new role, and in April, he urged the MDP and Democrats to work together, saying that he believes that to be in the best interest of the country, as well as the two parties – a sentiment that Fayyaz had publicly welcomed.

In a post on X following Monday’s meeting, Fayyaz had said that “putting this country back on the right track requires collaborative work by everyone who advocate for reform.”

But things weren’t always so cordial between the two.

Fayyaz, who was serving as the economic minister at the time, had been one of the figures who drew the heaviest criticism from Nasheed before he left the MDP in 2023. The two engaged in o several heated exchange of words, with Nasheed accusing Fayyaz of acting like a “bro” or a “thug” within the MDP.

He also levied serious allegations of corruption against Fayyaz, and had demanded that he be removed from power.

Fayyaz had run in the 2022 election for MDP’s chairpersonship with the backing of then-Maldivian president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Nasheed had backed Inthi.

Tensions intensified between Nasheed and Solih as it drew closer to the 2023 presidential election, especially after the former lost the MDP presidential ticket to the latter in January that year.

The rivalry between them created a rift within the MDP, culminating into Nasheed and those loyal to him leaving the party in June 2023, to form a new party, the Democrats.

Following the formation, Nasheed famously declared that he would “dismantle” the MDP, a party that he had helped found.

This rift is widely believed to be one of the main reasons for MDP’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election.