People's National Congress (Maldives)

The People's National Congress, abbreviated as PNC, is a political party in the Maldives founded in January 2019 and the current governing party. The party's formation was spearheaded by former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who had been in a dispute with the leadership of the Progressive Party of Maldives.

The PNC was founded with support from Yameen by Fonadhoo MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla, and was also joined by Nilandhoo MP Abdulla Khaleel. They then became president and vice president of the party, respectively, shortly after.

2019–2023
The PNC formed an alliance with the PPM on 2 February 2019, and together operated as the "Progressive Congress Coalition".

The PNC won 3 seats in the 19th Parliament, namely Vice Presidents Mohamed Saeed (Maavah constituency) and Adam Shareef Umar (Maduvvari constituency), and Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed (Felidhoo constituency). Interim party leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla lost his seat in Fonadhoo constituency.

The party is scheduled to hold its Inaugural National Conference in late April 2019, where appointments for full-term party positions will be made. On 26 April 2019 the congress was held and former MP Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik, former MP Ibrahim Shujau and former Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed was elected the vice-presidents of the party. However, after former MP Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik departed the party, former Fenaka Managing Director Mohamed Nimal was appointed vice-president of PNC.

2023–present (ruling party)
On 30 September 2023, the PNC candidate, Mohamed Muizzu, won the second-round runoff of the Maldives presidential election, beating incumbent president, Ibrahim Solih, with 54% of the vote.

On Friday 17 November 2023, PNC became the ruling party of Maldives after Muizzu took office.

In the days following, the internal discord within the PPM-PNC coalition increased, and came to a head on Thursday. The faction aligned with former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was demanding the Muizzu's resignation. On Thursday night, Yameen resigned from his position as the leader of the PPM and declared his intention to leave the party, signaling his plan to establish a new political entity named the People's National Front.