The main ruling party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has scheduled to elect its chairperson in April, and hold the party congress in August. The dates for the chairperson election and congress were finalised during the MDP National Assembly Convention held on February 10.
MDP scheduled the election of the party chairperson after the five-year term of the incumbent chairperson expired on February 10. The MDP National Assembly passed the decision to elect a new chairperson on April 16, along with the elections for the party’s women and youth wings. Candidacy for the elections will be opened on February 15.
Furthermore, the MDP National Assembly passed the decision to hold the party congress on August 4. During the congress, MDP will decide on proposing certain constitutional amendments such as changing the system of governance to a parliamentary system, changing the composition of Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and amendments to the Decentralisation Act.
Furthermore, MDP has also decided to elect its Parliamentary Group (PG) Leader on February 18. The election of a new PG Leader is being conducted following the expiry of the three-year term of current PG Leader, Parliamentarian Ali Azim. The PG Leader of MDP will become the majority leader of the Parliament of the Maldives, as the party holds the majority of seats at the parliament.
During the National Assembly Convention, President of MDP Mohamed Nasheed proposed some of the constitutional amendments he wishes to bring, including an amendment that would declare the candidate with the highest number of votes in the presidential election as the winner if they secure 30% of total votes. Currently, a candidate is required to secure more than 50% of total votes to win the presidential election.