Jumhooree Party (JP) has opened opportunity for interested contestants to run for all parliament seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections. The decision to open opportunity to run for all 87 constituencies was made at a council meeting. Interested candidates willing to contest for parliament seats must submit necessary documents before January 25, according to JP.
While applications are open for all 87 seats in the parliament, JP stated that a five-member committee will finalise which applicants are eligible for candidacy based on their education and merit. However, JP did not announce a guideline to provide party tickets to the applicants. Moreover, JP had decided to grant tickets without a party primary to parliamentarians who were disqualified by the Elections Commission and later reinstated by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, opinion regarding the parliamentary elections are widely divided in the ruling government coalition. While the coalition had previously agreed to divide the constituencies among the four parties, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had recently declared interest to contest for 86 constituencies.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has met with all coalition leaders to come to an agreement regarding the distribution of the constituencies among the coalition parties.