Maldives Presidential candidates to sign on voters list
Signing on the voters' list is a mandatory procedure before each election.
Male: The Elections Commission (EC) has announced that presidential candidates will be allowed to sign the voters’ list for this year’s presidential election starting from Friday, August 25.
Deputy Chief of the commission, Ismail Habeeb, spoke to Mihaaru News and confirmed that EC officials are already signing the voters’ list. After this, the candidates will be given the opportunity to sign the list as well.
Signing on the voters’ list is a mandatory procedure before each election. This provision was introduced in the new guidelines after the annulment of the first round of elections in 2013 by the Supreme Court. Since then, candidates have been required to sign on the list in the subsequent elections that followed.
A total of eight candidates are contending in the presidential election scheduled for September 9. The candidates include Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate and incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who is seeking re-election, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People’s National Congress (PNC) coalition’s candidate and Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim, The Democrats’ candidate and the youngest in this year’s presidential race Ilyas Labeeb, Maldives National Party (MNP) leader and former Minister of Defense Mohamed Nazim.
In addition, three other candidates are running in the presidential race independently, including former Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer, former Deputy Minister of the Defense Ministry Hassan Zameel, and Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) leader Faris Maumoon.