Umar Naseer “fully confident” of survival if no-confidence motion raised

Deputy leader of the main opposition party Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Umar Naseer, has said he is confident of surviving any no-confidence motion put forward to terminate him from his post of party leadership.

Daily newspaper Miadhu reported that a DRP member as claiming that a no-confidence motion to remove Umar Naseer from his post had been presented to the party’s council.

Naseer said he had also heard rumors of a no-confidence motion brewing against him.

”But then I clarified it with [party leader] Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, and he assured me that no such motion was planned or discussed,” Naseer said. ”So it was just a rumor being circulated.”

He acknowledged, however, that a no-confidence motion to sack him was ”very likely to happen”.

For such a motion to succeed however, a two-thirds majority would be needed, and Naseer said he was confident that such a majority could not be reached in order to sack him.

Prior to the DRP Congress Naseer was very vocal about the need for primary elections within the party to select its presidential candidate, however the party opted to retain its system of automatically putting the party leader forward as a candidate.

”There have been no internal splits in DRP,” Naseer said, ”but as we are a large political party, we do have some disagreements over some issues between different people.”

”The biggest disagreement between us is the issue of primaries,” he explained: ”I want to hold primary elections six months prior of the next presidential election.”

He said that there were “lots of people” who supported the primaries.

”I did not discuss this with [Thasmeen], I do not know what his side is on this,” Naseer said. ”During the last congress, he said he did not support holding primaries.”

Naseer said he wanted the DRP’s presidential ticket open for every member, which he believed would increase popular support for the party.

”Many prosperous people would join the party if we kept the party’s presidential ticket open, that way we can strengthen both our financial position and political position,” Naseer explained.

He said that an issue of unpaid salaries to some DRP staff members was ongoing, but added that it was an internal issue he did want to share with the media.

”The biggest issue for me, being the deputy leader of DRP, is the challenges I am being faced by the government,” he said, adding that this included ”torture, tear gas being arrested. ”

He said that while he would try to make the party’s presidential ticket open to everyone, “I have not decided yet whether or not to run for the next presidential election myself.”

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