Malé Mayor loses LGA board seat to Fuvahmulah's Ismail Rafeeq
Muizzu received a majority of votes from the ballot boxes stationed in the capital city and Addu City
Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu Adnan competed for the LGA board seat against Ismail Rafeeq, Mayor of Fuvahmulah City
Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu Adnan has lost the seat in the Local Government Authority (LGA)’s board, to his competitor Ismail Rafeeq, Mayor of Fuvahmulah City in the south of Maldives.
Rafeeq representing main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) led the poll as the representative of city councils for the LGA board seat with 24 votes while his competitor Muizzu, who represents opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), fell short with 21 votes.
The winner of the LGA board seat representing city councils garnered five votes from Fuvahmulah’s ballot box whereas one voted in favor of Muizzu. All votes cast in the Kulhudhuffushi City ballot box was for Rafeeq.
Muizzu received a majority of votes from the ballot boxes stationed in the capital city as well as southernmost Addu City. As such he received 13 votes from Malé and seven from Addu City. Rafeeq received six voted from the capital and six from Addu City.
In a tweet posted after, Muizzu thanked the Addu council members that voted for him despite not representing the opposition.
Addu City council has a majority of MDP members. The council has seven MDP members and three representing the opposition PPM. Three individual members also sit in the council.
Further, Ahmed Nimal, the council president for Kaafu atoll, was elected as representative of atoll councils. He competed against Mohamed Basheer, the president of Noonu atoll council. Nimal was elected to the seat automatically as Basheer’s nomination was submitted after the deadline had already approached.
