New Party

About a week ago a 9th party was formed. There were already so many other parties in the country that I did not think about it too much when the Republican (Jumhoree) party appeared on the Maldivian political scene.
Last night, however, I realized that this party is no minor deal. Their ranks have grown to the point at which they now have the largest number of members in the Majlis. There are many that think that this party could oust the DRP and President Gayoom from office.
An interesting note, four of the founding and leading members of the Maldivian Republican party are Gasim and the three other MP's that we had lunch with. I now have a rather good idea what they were at the resort to talk about- preparing to form the new party. Gasim also has thrown his hat into the political arena and is vying to become the Republican candidate. Many think that he may be the man who can beat Gayoom. President Gayoom, meanwhile, kicked off his election campaign last night to take advantage of the lucky date 8-8-08. However, this was during the same time as the Olympics and after the 8 pm newscast was over, so the big announcement wasn't on TV until the next day.