The period granted to apply for the Parliament by-election for the Hithadhoo North constituency expired today.

Elections Commission stated just now that by the time the deadline passed at 3:00 PM this afternoon, only two candidates had submitted forms to contest the by-election.

The candidates are the former Mayor of Addu, Abdulla Sodiq (Soabe), representing the opposition MDP, and Ahmed Saeed (Soda), representing the ruling PNC.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling last month that the seat held by ruling party PNC member Mohamed Sinan had been vacated, both the MDP and PNC announced searches for candidates to contest the seat.

As no other individual applied for the MDP ticket for the by-election, the ticket was awarded to Saeed.

The opportunity was given to Saeed by the PNC after Sinan, the former member for the constituency who had initially won the PNC’s Hithadhoo North primary against Saeed, relinquished the ticket.

Sinan lost his seat due to a case involving his failure to pay funds in accordance with an October 2024 judgment, which ordered him to pay MVR 2.5 million for a loan taken from Maldives Islamic Bank jointly with another individual.

Regarding these matters, while delivering the unanimous verdict of the five Supreme Court justices, Justice Aisha Shujune stated that because it was proven that the money had not been paid according to the judgment, member Sinan’s seat had been vacated.

The by-election for the Hithadhoo North constituency is scheduled to be held on the 6th of next month.