It is a party with its stated goal being the promotion of human rights and democracy in the Maldives. This party won the first ever multi-party elections in the Maldives with the support from all the other political parties in the 2008 elections against the former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. The Maldivian Democratic Party failed in the first two rounds of the 2008 presidential elections and called for a coalition for change against the then dictator.