Historic presidential race sees largest ever pool of contestants

Eight candidates submitted their candidacy to contest in the upcoming presidential elections as the deadline to submit forms expired at 2pm on Monday, August 7.

This marks the largest number of candidates participating in a presidential election in the history of Maldives. The previous record was set in 2008 when six candidates competed in the election.

The political parties that have submitted candidacy forms include the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Jumhooree Party (JP), The Democrats, The People’s National Congress (PNC), and the Maldives National Party (MNP).

Additionally, former Home Minister Umar Naseer, President of the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) Faris Maumoon, and former Deputy Minister of Defense Hassan Zameel have chosen to participate in the elections as independent candidates.

MDP's presidential candidate and incumbent president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, will be seeking re-election, and he has chosen Mohamed Aslam, the MDP Parliamentary Group Leader, as his running mate for the upcoming elections.

The Elections Commission has made the decision to reject the candidacy of former president Abdulla Yameen, who intended to run for office on the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) ticket, due to his ongoing incarceration.

Instead of nominating a different candidate from the PPM, the party chose to back the presidential candidate of their coalition partner, People's National Congress (PNC), Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. Dr. Muizzu, along with his running mate Faresmaathodaa MP Hussain Mohamed Latheef, submitted their candidacy nominations on Monday morning.

The list of candidates who have submitted their nominations includes President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and his running mate, MDP Parliamentary Group Leader Mohamed Aslam, from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Dhangethi MP Mohamed Nazim, along with Dr. Ahmed Adeel Naseer as his running mate, representing the Maldives National Party (MNP) and Jumohooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim alongside running mate Dr. Ameen Ibrahim are contesting the presidential election.

The Democrats have selected Ilyas Labeeb as their Presidential candidate, and former Managing Director of the State Trading Organisation (STO) Hussain Amr as his running mate.

Additionally, Faris Maumoon, leader of the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM), and Hassan Zameel, who has previously held positions as Deputy Minister of Tourism and Deputy Minister of Defense, have also entered the presidential race.

The 2023 presidential elections will be the first instance where a husband and wife are both running for the positions of President and Vice President. Hassan Zameel, a former Deputy Minister of Defense who recently resigned from his post, is contesting for the position of President, with his wife Mariyam Aleem as his running mate.

The presidential election is set to take place on September 9. A second round of elections is scheduled for September 30, in the event that a runoff is necessary.

Former President Abdulla Yameen and current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih contested in the last presidential elections held in 2018. MDP won the election with 58 percent of the vote while PPM secured 41 percent of the vote.