Tourism Minister Moosa Zameer has said that President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Qayyoom has to be granted the PPM Presidential ticket for 2018 elections uncontested.
He made the statement in a tweet posted early this morning, at a time when the debate over the issue of Party ticket was raging hotly.
Minister Zameer said that President Yameen must be given the Party ticket uncontested for the unity and strength of the party, adding that lessons have to be learned from the last primary.
PPM Parliamentary Group Leader Ahmed Nihan had also supported this motion. Nihan had denied the media reports that rifts had begun over the issue between the President and former President Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom. He said these were mere rumors started with the intent to create confusion and chaos among the public.
Nihan said he had heard rumors that a Council Member had begun a petition to grant the ticket to President Yameen without a primary and that he would fully back the petition if such a petition existed. He added that President Yameen deserved the Party ticket without any contest.
He said the Party regulations also mandated this if the President were to contest for a second term.
All except six of the 33 member Council had signed a petition calling to grant the President the Party ticket. The said petition had been submitted to former President Maumoon. Mamoon had denied this, stating that this was against democratic principles.
