Mohamed Muizzu

Mohamed Muizzu (born 15 June 1978) is a Maldivian politician and engineer who has been serving as the 8th president of the Maldives and leader of the People's National Congress since 2023. He previously served as housing minister from 2012 to 2018, making him the longest-serving housing minister in Maldivian history. Muizzu was the mayor of Malé from 2021 until his resignation in 2023. Born in Malé, Muizzu studied civil engineering in the United Kingdom and completed his PhD in 2009 at University of Leeds. He was appointed Minister of Housing in 2012 and served until 2018. He then became the Mayor of Malé. As a member of the People's National Congress, Muizzu was nominated as the presidential candidate following the imprisonment of former president Abdulla Yameen on corruption charges. Since Yameen was ineligible to stand for election, Muizzu was selected as his successor. He was the People's National Congress candidate in the 2023 presidential election, where he defeated the incumbent president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Muizzu has received the position of leader of the Progressive Congress coalition, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the Maldives National Defence Force in 2023, making Muizzu the first democratic Maldivian president to hold the most positions in modern Maldivian history. Furthermore, he served as the Senior Vice President of the Maldives Development Alliance from 2013 to 2018, Deputy leader of Progressive Party of Maldives and Secretary General of the Adhaalath Party from 2010 to 2014. In the 2023 Maldivian presidential election, Mohamed Muizzu defeated seven candidates, receiving 101,635 votes in the first round and 129,159 votes in the second round. His campaign, branded as Dhiveheenge Raajje (The Nation of the Maldivians), emphasised national sovereignty, anti-corruption, and economic reform. The manifesto included promises to end foreign military presence and to enhance infrastructure and housing development. In the 2024 Maldivian parliamentary election, Muizzu's party secured a supermajority by winning 75 seats, surpassing the then–majority Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which had previously held over 60 seats in the People's Majlis. During his presidency, Muizzu has overseen policies including the expelling of Indian troops from the Maldives and ending secret agreements made by previous governments with other countries that allegedly threatened the independence and sovereignty of the Maldives. He also established closer relations with China. Muizzu has also focused on housing and structural development as well as the Government Policy and Legislative Reforms. In June 2024, he imposed a ban on Israeli passports, following the Gaza war and started national fundraising campaigns within the Maldives to demonstrate support for Palestine.