Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has stated his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will win a landslide victory in the upcoming local council elections.
Nasheed, who was recently elected as the president of MDP for a second term, said the recent party election was an opportunity to take a unified stand for the local council elections scheduled for April 4. He remarked the main focus of MDP is to win the council elections which he hoped would be much easier following highly contested party leadership elections.
Nasheed noted after amendments made to Decentralisation Act, regulatory changes will take place in the rules followed for council elections and therefore the party must prepare for the changes. He noted under the new regulations the atoll presidents and mayors will be elected by vote and winning votes is an efficient task for MDP. He said primary elections of MDP will be held in December to choose candidates to contest in the council elections.
Nasheed, who won about 90% of the vote in the party's recent leadership election, remarked his opponents who criticise him may not even win 200 votes in their own party elections.