Parliament Speaker and the main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s presidential primary candidate, Mohamed Nasheed, has said he had confidence in the party's Chairperson, Fayyaz Ismail, to conduct a free and fair election.
Nasheed will go head to head with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the party's presidential campaign slated for January 28.
Nasheed said he believes the party's primary will be conducted in a fair manner. He also said that he trusts the MDP Chairman and the organizing committee in this regard.
"I have confidence in the Chairperson and the organizing committee. I hope they will take good care of these things," he said.
Although Nasheed has said he had confidence in Fayyaz, he has heavily criticized Fayyaz in the past. Nasheed has claimed that Fayyaz is a corrupt character.
Recently, Nasheed and his supporters criticized Fayyaz over the removal of more than 39,000 members from the MDP register, and accused the current MDP leadership of attempting to rig the primary. However, Fayyaz said the members were removed to match with the party register maintained at the Elections Commission.
The MDP presidential primary will take place this Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. The MDP has announced the permanent list of voters, according to which 57,255 people will be eligible to vote in the primary.
