Government restrictions force MDP to shorten its national congress

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party has decided to shorten its national congress to one day, due to the various obstructions by the government.

Speaking on RaajjeTV’s Fala Surukhee programme on Saturday night, MDP’s chair Hassan Latheef revealed that they were forced to bring changes to the upcoming congress meeting, originally scheduled to be held on 29-30 June.

Noting that the congress has now been shortened to one day, Latheef said that registration will take place in capital Male’ City on the Friday, June 29.

He added that members will depart to Ukulhas of Alif Alif atoll, where the congress is to take place, on Saturday morning. Participants of MDP’s national congress were to initially set to depart to Ukulhas on Friday morning.

Latheef said that the party will be launching its manifesto during the congress meeting, in addition to amending some of its regulations.

Noting that these are the two main items on the agenda, Latheef said that they expect to complete the tasks by Saturday night.

While the party had previously announced plans to sell around 200 tickets to attend the congress, Latheef said that they are not able to do so now ‘due to the restrictions by the government’.

However, as previously announced, resident and non-resident foreign representatives to the Maldives, officials from government institutions and other opposition parties, as well as journalists are to attend the event on Saturday.

Latheef further said that 1148 people are expected to attend MDP’s national congress.