Maldives top court dismisses case on PPM leadership dispute

The Supreme Court has ordered the Civil Court to halt its hearings on Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s leadership dispute.

The case was filed by two members of PPM, requesting that the party’s leadership be returned to its founder, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stated that the case has been dismissed from the Civil Court.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, Maumoon’s attorney Mohamed Faisal said that the Supreme Court had taken the case documents after it was registered at the Civil Court.

PPM’s attorney Ibrahim Riza has said that the case filed by PPM members Ali Ahmed and Ahmed Rasheed cannot be accepted, since the Civil Court, the High Court, and the Supreme Court earlier accepted the appointment of former President Abdulla Yameen as PPM leader.

However, Maumoon’s attorney said the two cases are of separate issues, and that the case to handover leadership to Maumoon was filed after the Elections Commission refused to accept the decisions made at the last PPM congress, which saw the appointment of Yameen as leader.

After the PPM leadership dispute resulted in numerous court cases, Yameen has formed a new party called the People’s National Congress (PNC) with the help of his loyalists from PPM, and Maumoon is currently working to form his own party, the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM).