MDP chair calls for EC President's arrest
Primaries will proceed as scheduled on the 30th of May, despite EC having indirectly published a statement aimed at MDP
MDP chairperson Hassan Latheef
Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) chairperson and attorney at Aequitas Legal Consultant (ALC) Hassan Latheef has said that the Maldives Police Service (MPS) needs to put an end to the Elections Commission (EC)'s attempts to influence the opposition primaries and arrest the president of the commission, Ahmed Shareef.
EC had on Sunday said that political parties need to understand that candidates contesting for party primaries must have attributes similar to that of a president following which Latheef, speaking on RaajjeTV's "60 Minutes" program, said that the EC's word is not the law.
Latheef said that his party follows the constitution, laws and the party's basic principles, condemning EC's attempts to influence the party primaries.
"According to the constitution, issues relating the candidacy of a certain candidate can only be resolved by the full bench of the Supreme Court" said Latheef.
Latheef had further highlighted that the initial ruling passed by the Supreme Court's full bench on the 1st of February orders the release of former President and opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed.
The Chairperson also reassured that the party primaries will proceed as scheduled on the 30th of May despite EC having indirectly published a statement aimed at MDP.
The MDP primary election has been slated for the 30th of May where voting will proceed from 09:00 p.m to 01:00 a.m in all inhabited islands of the Maldives along with Sri Lanka's Colombo and Kandy, India's Trivandrum and Bangalore, Malaysia as well as London.
Nasheed is the only candidate who has submitted his bid to run for the party ticket.
