MP Alhan Fahmy rejoins MDP

MP for Feydhoo Alhan Fahmy has rejoined the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), reversing his move to Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (JP) in June 2012.

The former MDP Vice President was removed from the MDP leadership post in a no-confidence vote supported by 95 percent of the MDP’s National Congress on April 30, 2012, after he and the party’s President Dr Ibrahim Didi were accused of making statements contradictory to the party’s official line concerning February 7’s controversial transfer of power.

Both men disputed the legitimacy of the process which led to their ousting. Dr Didi filed a complaint with the Elections Commission (EC), which was later dismissed, whilst Fahmy staged a sparsely attended ‘free MDP’ rally, protesting against what he alleged was the negative influence of former President Mohamed Nasheed on the party.

Didi and Fahmy shortly afterwards joined Gasim’s government-aligned Jumhoree Party, assuming leadership positions.

Fahmy was initially elected to parliament on a Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) ticket, making him one of the few MPs to have been a member of almost every major political party represented in parliament, barring the DRP’s splinter party, the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM). He was dismissed from the party by its disciplinary committee for breaking the party’s whip line in a no-confidence vote against then Foreign Minister, Dr Ahmed Shaheed.

Fahmy confirmed his most recent move to Minivan News, declaring his decision was made “because the country’s future lies with the MDP”.

MDP Spokesperson MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, who sponsored last year’s motion to remove Alhan from the party, said the issues “have been resolved” and that the party “welcomes anybody always. We have an open invitation,” he said.

“Alhan is a good speaker and another vote in the Majlis,” he added.

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid in April moved to the MDP from the DRP, stating that he had changed his political allegiance over concerns about the direction of the country’s democratic transition.

“I believe in the democratic Maldives built in 2008; will not stand by while opportunists & extremists drag our country back,” he tweeted at the time.

The DRP subsequently signed a coalition agreement with President Mohamed Waheed’s Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP), joining the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and the Adhaalath Party (AP).

Alhan’s switch takes the MDP’s membership in parliament to 33 of the 77 member chamber, six short of the 39 majority needed to push through legislation.