Who is Ahmed Ali Sawad?

Qasim Ibrahim announced last night that his running mate would be Ahmed Ali Sawad. When a lot of us heard this, our first question is, Who is he? The only thing I know is that he certainly is a stranger to Maldivian politics. Is this the reason for his nomination? Perhaps Qasim wanted a person who hasn't yet been tainted, a "pure" person who hasn't had any dirty affiliation with Maumoon. Apparently he is from both Male' and Addu. So one of the motives could be to gain back the potential Adduan votes that he lost when he did not choose Munavvar, as previously thought.

On the other hand, would people really care for a new face? Unlike some people like Munavvar, Sawad would not have a powerful support base in Addu (apart from family, I suppose). Would the die-hard Addu reformists change loyalties just because the running mate has some Addu connections?

In my opinion, if Sawad wants to gain popularity (and help Qasim in the process, of course), he needs to really be out in the public in the next few weeks. He needs to become a familiar face that reminds people of what he (supposedly) is - an untainted politician who truly wants to help bring the change we need.