Around 55 members of the Maldives Democratic Party, MDP, have signed a motion to remove the current chairperson of the party, Abdul Ghafoor Moosa (Gapo).

It has been reported that the motion has already been submitted to the party's national congress, and that the party is required to convene the national congress if any motion has at least 10 signatures from its members.

A simple majority is enough to dismiss Abdul Ghafoor Moosa from his post. His imminent removal follows the sudden dismissal of party Deputy chairperson Ibrahim Waheed and the Party's Legal Director.

In a scathing post on social media, former Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail attacked Ghafoor, saying that he was unable to maintain the momentum and unity that led to the party's triumphs in the recently held elections.

Fayyaz said that the Local Council election results are undeniable evidence that the Maldivian people demand reform, and that MDP is the vessel they have chosen to put their faith in.

He said that MDP must earn its trust by modernizing, understanding the demands of the current day, and evolving to meet the citizens' needs. The path to doing so begins with ensuring a fair and transparent process to elect a new chair of MDP.

Without systemic reform, we risk falling back into old failures. The path to reforming MDP is a long and arduous one. We must re-envision and redetermine the values by which we stand, and rebuild the foundation of the party that brought democracy to the Maldives, and the only one to have ever sought to serve the people of the country
Fayyaz, former Chairperson of MDP

The former Economic Minister also said that it's the time to debate and question, and to build the way forward to a party that is once again connected with the roots of this country.