Maldives president sets world record with nearly 15-hour press talk
The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has held what his office says is the world’s longest press conference by a sitting head of state.
The event began at 10 am local time on Saturday and lasted for 14 hours and 54 minutes, stretching past midnight.
It included short breaks for prayers, but Muizzu continued answering questions throughout.
The president responded to reporters and also took questions sent in by members of the public. His office said the long press session was held to mark World Press Freedom Day and to show support for journalists.
“He acknowledged the crucial role of the press in society and emphasised the importance of factual, balanced, and impartial reporting,” the president’s office told Agence France-Presse.
Around two dozen journalists attended the marathon briefing and were served food during the session.
Muizzu, 46, came to power in 2023.
According to his team, the nearly 15-hour press talk beats the previous record of 14 hours held by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky since 2019.
Before that, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had set a record with a press conference that lasted more than seven hours.
The Maldives government also used the event to highlight that the country had moved up two places in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. It now ranks 104 out of 180 countries globally.
The Maldives, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, is known for drawing attention to global issues in unusual ways.
In 2009, former president Mohamed Nasheed held the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting to warn about rising sea levels caused by climate change.
