Candidacy opens for MDP tickets for Majlis election

The main opposition, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has opened candidacy for the party’s tickets for next-year’s parliamentary elections.

In a statement announcing the opening of candidacy on Saturday morning, MDP said that it will be holding primaries where necessary, on January 26 and 27.

But only those who file their candidacy by 04:00 pm on December 25 will be eligible to contest the primaries.

Interested candidates have been asked to fill the “expression of interest” form online via Google Forms. They are also required to clear their criminal and debt records from the Department of Judicial Administration, and submit it.

Candidates must be a member of the MDP, and must meet the criteria stipulated for parliamentary candidacy under Article 73 of the Constitution, and Article 8 of Parliamentary Elections.

But in a press conference on Saturday, MDP’s deputy chairperson Ibrahim Waheed (Ibrey) said that those who ran anti-campaigns against the party’s interim leader, former Maldivian president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, during the recent presidential elections will not be allowed to represent the party in the parliamentary elections.

He said that he would personally seek an investigation against such persons.

Ibrey added that the party will check disciplinary standards before the basic criteria.