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People's National Congress
PresidentMohamed Muizzu
ChairpersonAbdul Raheem Abdulla
Vice Presidents[a]
Parliamentary Group leaderIbrahim Falah
Secretary-GeneralZeenaz Adnan
SpokespersonHeena Waleed
Founded24 December 2018; 5 years ago (2018-12-24)
Registered31 January 2019; 5 years ago (2019-01-31)[1]
Split fromProgressive Party of Maldives
HeadquartersSeatrack Building, Maafannu, Malé, Maldives
Membership (September 2024)Increase 28,983[2]
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing[3]
Affiliate partyProgressive Party of Maldives
Colors  Turquoise
Governing body
  • Upper house
  • Cabinet of Members
People's Majlis
75 / 93
Party flag
Website
pnc.mv

The People's National Congress (PNC), colloquially the Congress Party, is a political party in the Maldives. It is one of the two major political parties in the Maldives, along with the Maldivian Democratic Party.[b] The party sits on the right-wing of the political spectrum.[4] Widely regarded as the most powerful political party in history of the Maldives,[6][7] it is the governing party of the Maldives since 2023.

The People's National Congress was founded in January 2019 following a split from the Progressive Party of Maldives. In February 2019, the two parties formed an alliance and functioned jointly under the name "Progressive Congress Coalition". It quickly came to power, holding two seats in the People's Majlis, as members of parliament Abdul Raheem Abdulla and Abdulla Khaleel were among the party's founding members. As the then-newest political party, it contested the 2019 Maldivian parliamentary election three months after its formation and secured three seats in the parliament.

The party has primarily focused on nationalism and Islamism under the leadership of Mohamed Muizzu as party president. It has been characterised by fluctuating positions towards international relations, at times aligning with India and at other times with China. The media often describes it as a "pro-China" party.[8] In terms of nationalism, it advocates for independence and sovereignty, emphasising non-interference in domestic affairs and promoting self-reliance in governance and development. The party also supports strengthening the Maldives' military capabilities and maintaining control over key economic sectors to safeguard national interests.

In its first presidential election since its founding, the party achieved the highest number of votes in both the first and second rounds, with its candidate Mohamed Muizzu elected president. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, the party won 66 seats, and with independent candidates joining, it now holds 75 seats—the most ever held by a party in the history of the Maldivian parliament, giving it a supermajority.

History

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Origins

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Formation

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Abdulla Yameen, founder of the PNC

From 2016 until 2018, a leadership dispute emerged between Abdulla Yameen and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the founder of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).[9] In November 2018, Yameen decided to form the People's National Congress due to concerns about losing control of the PPM.[10]

In December 2018, Abdul Raheem Abdulla, the then-vice president of PPM, submitted an application to the Elections Commission to form the People's National Congress on behalf of Abdulla Yameen.[11] In December 2018, Abdul Raheem Abdulla submitted an application to the Elections Commission to form the People's National Congress.[12] Initially, the commission rejected the application, stating that most of the submitted membership forms were deemed invalid, although Abdulla had submitted over 4,000 forms when at least 3,000 were required to form a party.[13] Another reason for the rejection was that Abdul Raheem Abdulla was already a member of the Progressive Party of Maldives.[14] PNC founder's reapplied, and in January 2019, the Elections Commission approved the formation of the PNC.[15] On 31 January 2019, the Elections Commission officially registered the PNC.[16][17]

2019–2023: Early years

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Coalition and opposition

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On 1 February 2019, the PNC and Progressive Party of Maldives formed a coalition known as the Progressive Congress Coalition.[18] Following the signing of the coalition agreement, the coalition awarded its tickets to ten candidates to contest in the 2019 Maldivian parliamentary elections.[19]

2019 parliamentary election

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See also: 2019 Maldivian parliamentary election § Campaign

During the 2019 Maldivian parliamentary election, the Congress party was recognised as the most recently established and, therefore, the youngest political party to contest the election. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the Congress party fielded 23 candidates and secured 3 seats, receiving a total of 13,931 votes.[20] Stakeholders expressed concern over the state of the coalition government and its prospects of holding together after the elections.[21]

Consultations among the four coalition partners revealed that the earlier agreement to contest the parliamentary elections jointly had collapsed.[21] As a result, the Congress party opted to field its own candidates in the elections, contributing to the fragmentation of the coalition.[21]

In response to the changing political landscape, the Jumhooree Party entered into an arrangement with Progressive Party of Maldives and the Congress party to support each other's candidates against those of the Maldivian Democratic Party.[22]

2023 presidential election

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2023–present: Muizzu era

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2024 parliamentary elections

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Minority to supermajority

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Organisation

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Party structure

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Leadership

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Membership

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The logo of the PNC represents a stylized dove, a bird from the Columbidae family, rendered in turquoise colour. The design is minimalistic, with the bird's shape formed by smooth, flowing lines. Its wings are represented by three elongated, curved lines resembling feathers.

On 28 December 2018, parliamentarian Ahmed Nihan revealed the party's official colour as turquoise on Twitter.[23] The media later reported that the Elections Commission might reject this colour, as it closely resembled the shade used by the Commission at that time.[23] However, the colour was later confirmed for use by the party, and the Elections Commission did not reject it.

International relations

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Relationship with other parties

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Electoral performance and campaigns

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Parliamentary elections

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Election year No. of
overall parliament seats won 		+/– Presidency
2019
3 / 87
 New Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
2024[c]
66 / 93
 Increase 63 Mohamed Muizzu

Presidential elections

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Election year Presidential candidate First round Second round Result
Votes Vote % Votes Vote %
2023 Mohamed Muizzu
Hussain Mohamed Latheef 		101,635 46.06% 128,929 54.06% Won

Notes

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  1. ^ According to Chapter 6 of the party's law book, which addresses senior positions, the party must have four vice presidents elected by its Upper House.
  2. ^ De facto two major parties are the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in number of party membership. However, as of 2024, PPM does not hold power within the government and is not regarded as a major party. With the People's National Congress being the ruling party and the MDP serving as the opposition, they are considered the two primary political parties.[4][5] Since the PPM and PNC are in a coalition, the PPM is not classified as the opposition and is therefore not counted among the major parties.
  3. ^ Following the elections, nine Independent candidates joined the People's National Congress, increasing the total number of PNC seats in parliament to 75.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Shaahunaz, Fathimath (31 January 2019). "EC registers new political party 'People's National Congress'". The Edition.
  2. ^ "Peoples National Congress". Elections Commission of Maldives. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Parties". Asia Elects.
  4. ^ a b Lo, Ranson (17 May 2024). "Major Political Parties & Candidates – People's National Congress (PNC)". Bloomsbury Intellience & Security Institute.
  5. ^ "MDP fails to emerge as the main opposition; but can they?". Sun Online International. 26 September 2024.
  6. ^ Rasheed, Zaheena (24 April 2024). "'Absolute power': After pro-China Maldives leader's big win, what's next?". Al Jazeera.
  7. ^ Naish, Ahmed (23 April 2024). "Muizzu's People's National Congress Storms to Power in Maldives". The Diplomat.
  8. ^ "Pro-China party wins Maldives vote in landslide". The Daily Star. 22 April 2024.
  9. ^ "High court to hear appeal over PPM leadership dispute". Maldives Independent. 20 October 2016.
  10. ^ Ali, Humaam (18 December 2018). "Yameen to form new political party in fear of losing PPM leadership". Raajje Online.
  11. ^ "PNC resubmits documents to register as a political party". 25 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Electoral body denies 'blocking' PNC registration". Avas. 23 January 2024. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Maldives ex-pres gets green light to form new political party". Avas. 27 December 2018. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018.
  14. ^ "EC rejects ex-pres Yameen's bid to form new political party". The Edition. 25 December 2018.
  15. ^ Shaahunaz, Fathimath (24 January 2019). "Electoral watchdog finally permits formation of new party PNC". Archived from the original on 9 February 2019.
  16. ^ "Elections Commission registers PNC". PSM News. 31 January 2019.
  17. ^ "EC officially registers ex-pres' new party". Avas. 1 February 2019. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021.
  18. ^ "PNC forms alliance with PPM". 2 February 2019. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019.
  19. ^ Ali, Humaam (2 February 2019). "PPM and PNC form 'Progressive Congress' coalition". Archived from the original on 24 July 2023.
  20. ^ "Parliamentary Election 2019 Statistics". Elections Commission. 2019.
  21. ^ a b c "Maldives Parliamentary Elections 6 April 2019" (PDF). Commonwealth of Nations. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2023.
  22. ^ Burrow, Steele (4 April 2019). "Maldives Election Watch". International Republican Institute.
  23. ^ a b "Elections Commission might reject colour used by PNC". PSM News. 28 December 2018.
  24. ^ "20th Parliament: 93 members with 67 entirely new parliamentarians". PSM News. 28 May 2024.
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