Hacked  By  r4dBlack

DHAKA: Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is necessary for the survival of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), said his spokesperson yesterday.

Addressing press, Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu) rejected Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed’s assertion that DRP was undemocratic because Gayoom had been the party’s leader for the past 30 years.

“He’s the single most popular politician in town which is why everybody’s so hell-bent on removing him from the police scene,” said Mundhu. “But a DRP without Gayoom isn’t really a DRP.”

He added Gayoom had not yet formally announced or rejected the decision to run for party leader, which would be decided at next year’s congress and it was not for members of other parties to speculate. “He [Gayoom] believes it’s a decision party members should be making.”

Gayoom was ousted by incumbent President Mohamed Nasheed, leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party, in October last year in the country’s first democratic elections.

Since his removal from office, there has been much speculation about whether he will step down as leader of the DRP with some party members arguing a change in leadership is necessary to revive the party now in opposition for the first time.

Earlier this year, former Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed resigned from DRP citing Gayoom’s grip on the party as one reason for his decision. In his resignation letter, Nasheed writes Gayoom should stand down to allow DRP to function as an opposition party rather than pour all of its energy into defending the ex-president.

But, speaking yesterday, Mundhu referred to Gayoom as the party’s “father figure” adding 90 per cent of members joined DRP out of support for him.

“Whether he should be leader or not is the decision of the party but he should be involved with DRP in some capacity. As long as he’s active in politics, it’s essential that the party utilises his support and experience.”

Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, deputy leader for DRP, was noncommittal about conjecture over whether he was planning to run for leadership next year.

“It’s a matter to be decided at the congress next year,” he said. “Everybody has the opportunity, if a member of DRP.”

On whether Abdulla Yamin, leader of People’s Alliance, was an option, Thasmeen said he would have to join DRP first.

Ahmed Nihan Hussein, a younger member of the party, said change in leadership was a possibility. “I think that ex-President Gayoom is a great lover of his nation and he’ll make the right decision about if to quit or not...we’ll have to wait and see.”

While member Alhan Fahmy had shown interest in running for presidency in 2018, said Nihan, he was most likely “too young” to be a contender for DRP leadership.

He added talk of new leadership being necessary to revitalise DRP was an MDP tactic to oust Gayoom.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the fourth anniversary of the MDP in June, President Nasheed called on Gayoom to stand down. The same week the ex-president called for Nasheed’s resignation.