The Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has opened up applications for their primary election for the upcoming parliamentary election. This follows an amendment to the regulations, stating that contesting candidates must submit a clean police record along with their application.
The party has opened for candidates to submit their candidacy forms until December 25. Constituencies that require a primary will have their primary elections held on January 26-27, 2024.
Speaking at a press conference held on Saturday, MDP's Vice Chairperson Ibrahim Waheed said that this time it has been decided that candidates will have to clear their criminal records while applying for the primary. He said the change was made because the Elections Commission (EC) has changed the way criminal records were cleared and there were problems of having records while filing candidacy forms after being selected from the primaries.
"At present, the Elections Commission is only examining superior courts in the capital and the courts where a person has a permanent address. But now they are exploring whether the candidate has a debt or a criminal record in island courts," he said.
Another reason for the decision to clear the criminal record, he said, was that it takes five days to record the crimes of those selected from the primary.
He said only those who have become party members to date can contest and vote in the primaries. However, he said that those contesting the primaries would be investigated if they had campaigned against MDP in the presidential election held earlier this year.
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