Democrats to contest for all parliamentary seats

The Democrats have decided they will contest for all parliamentary seats in the upcoming elections.

The party’s interim council convened for a meeting to make key decisions for the parliamentary elections on Sunday. In a press conference after the meeting, the party’s interim chairperson Hassan Latheef said the council has decided the party will contest for all 93 parliamentary seats.

Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb, a Democrat, has submitted a parliamentary resolution to limit parliamentary seats to 76. During Sunday’s meeting, the council passed a motion and agreed to do everything possible to limit the seats. But they also agreed to contest for 93 seats – including the six new seats – if the amendment doesn’t pass.

The motion was put forth by Mohamed Shifaz, former deputy leader of MDP.

“The Elections Commission has announced there will be 93 seats. This means we will contest for all 93 seats. But the greater priority is the constitutional amendment submitted by Ilyas Labeeb, to change the composition of the parliament,” said Hassan Latheef.

The Democrats want to allot 55 seats for electoral districts, 11 national list seats, and an additional 11 for women and people with disabilities.

The constitution currently stipulates that there must be a parliamentary representative for every 5,000 citizens. This means that the number of seats at the next parliamentary assembly will increase by six seats to 93.