News

Ghassan has future in politics: President

  • Ghassan will be elected into Parliament
  • Effort went into securing seat for Ghassan
  • Ghassan not succeeding was upsetting

Son of the head of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, Ghassan Maumoon has a bright future in politics, and that Ghassan will be elected into Parliament in the next elections, says President Abdulla Yameen.

At the meeting where Ghassan was in audience, President Yameen said that he went to Thimarafushi to work on Ghassan's campaign for the Parliament, despite not having the support of many PPM members. Ghassan is the nephew of President Yameen.

President Yameen also said that he was deeply saddened when Ghassan failed to win the election due to setbacks set up by his competitor and the current Member of Parliament for the Thimarafushi constituency, Mohamed Musthafa.

" We worked to elect Ghassan because it was something we could have been proud of, had Ghassan won the seat, it would have been a proud seat for us. I still expect Ghassan to have bright future in politics. God willing, Ghassan will enter the Parliament for a good constituency next year," President Yameen said.

President Yameen also said that he daringly went to Thimarafushi to be with Ghassan while he was receiving unfair treatment, and that he had to wait 17 hours at sea with Ghassan due to Musthafa. President Yameen noted that Musthafa was under the protection of PPM and said that this is the beauty of democracy. Yameen also said that PPM would have benefited more had Ghassan been elected.

Every other member of former President Maumoon's family is with him. But Ghassan is taking part and voting in President Yameen's council meetings. Ghassan also attends his father's council meetings. But it is not clear whether he votes in these meetings.

President Yameen said that every member of the Party must feel pride in working for the Party and that he has such a team with him now. The President also instructed members of the party not to worry about the current internal disputes in the Party, and that his team has the ability to guide the Party to a calm state once more. Regarding the accusations against him, President Yameen said that all those accusations against him are false.