Ilyas, sole contender for Democrats’ ticket, wins by 94%

Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb won his party, The Democrats’, presidential ticket on Friday, with 94 percent of the votes.

He had been the sole contender for the ticket.

Total 3,203 of the party’s members cast their ballot during the presidential primary held on Friday.

According to The Democrats’ constitution, sole contenders at primaries require the vote of at least 10 percent of the party’s total members in order to win.

3,041 of the party’s members – making for 94 percent of the voters – voted in favor of presenting the party’s presidential ticket to Ilyas.

153 members voted against him, and nine ballots were ruled as invalid.

The Democrats is composed of a breakaway faction of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), loyal to former president Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed, MDP’s co-founder and former leader, left the party in June, and signed with The Democrats less than a month later.

The party has 4,100 members.