Three women candidates won parliamentary tickets in yesterday's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) primaries.
The three women who were successful in winning tickets yesterday are former Communications Director of Foreign Ministry Safaath Ahmed Zahir for Hulhumale' Central Constituency, former Chief Executive to the Vice President Nazra Naseem for Fuvahmulah Constituency, and former State Minister at the Gender Ministry Zifleena Ahmed for Thinadhoo Constituency.
MDP Women's Wing President and Meedhoo Consituency MP Rozaina Adam faced defeat in yesterday's primaries.
Three additional women candidates also received MDP tickets, these without the necessity of holding a primary.
These three candidates are Jeehan Mamdhooh for Hinnavaru Constituency, Ifham Hussain for Maafannu Uthuru Constituency, and Rugiyya Mohamed for Dhangethi Constituency.
Yesterday's MDP primaries included tickets for 40 out of the total 93 parliament constituencies. While a total of 149 candidates contended for these tickets, the number of female contenders remained at a mere 8.
Women candidates running on party tickets for parliamentary seats appear to be significantly low.
Only two women candidates succeeded in getting parliamentary tickets from the ruling coalition.
The party with the highest number of female candidates is currently The Democrats, with a total of 13.
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