Guraidhoo by-election scheduled for April 15

Elections Commission has decided to hold the by-election for the Guraidhoo parliamentary seat on April 15.

The Guraidhoo seat had fallen vacant with the death of MP Ibrahim Riza on February 23. He died at the age of 55 years in a hospital in Malaysia after a two-year-long battle with cancer.

Riza, an attorney-at-law, had served at the Parliament for 13 consecutive years. He had been a member of multiple parliamentary committees, including the independent institutions committee, judiciary committee, and security services committee.

He had also served as vice president of the Judicial Service Commission during former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration.

Riza had been elected to the Parliament as an independent candidate in 2009. He later joined the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).