The Elections Commission of Maldives is to green light the formation of ‘The Democrats’, on July 2.

This was revealed by Vice President of the commission Ismail Habeeb via Twitter.

As such, Habeeb revealed the EC’s decision to allow the party to hold its first meeting after its formation to be held on July 2.

Habeeb noted that this has been informed to West Henveiru MP Hassan Latheef. Application to form the new political party spearheaded by Mohamed Nasheed, the estranged leader of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) who recently resigned from his post, was filed with the Elections Commission under MP Hassan Latheef’s name on 21 May 2023.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, Habeeb stated that they have collected the application forms for ‘The Democrats’, checked them and confirmed that the party has the membership quorum required to hold its formation meeting, in accordance with the legal mandate.

After two members of the commission noted that ‘The Democrats’ could not be registered due to issues that needed to be investigated further, some differences of opinion surfaced between EC members.

Further, members Ali Nashaath and Mohamed Asif had refused to attend a meeting that was held to decide on the matter of the ‘The Democrats’ formation, citing that they did not have confidence in the commission’s president, Fuad Thaufeeq.

When questioned regarding the decision to green light the party’s formation on July 2, Habeeb stated that the decision was reached by all the members of the commission.

EC on June 18 denied the party registration request by ‘The Democrats’.

'The Democrats' was granted approval to gather 3,000 signatures in support for the foundation of the political party on 24 May 2023.

‘The Democrats’ party filed for registration with the Elections Commission (EC), with 3,560 membership forms on June 1.

Loyalists of Former President and current Speaker of Parliament Nasheed announced the decision to form a separate party, after the resignation of several parliamentarians who are loyal to Nasheed, from the ruling party MDP.

The new political party, spearheaded by Nasheed will be producing a candidate for this year’s presidential election, slated for September. Party spokesperson Afshan Latheef has also confirmed that they will be producing a candidate for the September poll.

Since President Solih won MDP’s primary election in January this year, the party has been divided into two factions; one supporting the incumbent president and one backing the former president and current speaker.

President Solih is running for this year’s presidential election as the candidate of the main-ruling party MDP.