Former President Mohamed Nasheed, the leader of opposition party MDP and the only candidate to contest in the party's primary election, has said that the Election Commission (EC) has announced its decision to bar opposition leaders from running for presidency.

Nasheed took to twitter on Sunday evening following EC's assertion that political parties need to understand that candidates contesting for party primaries must have attributes similar to that of a president.

The opposition leader wrote that the Election Commission "handpicked by President Yameen, has announced that none of the country's opposition leaders can participate in the upcoming Presidential election."

The four opposition leaders likely to run against President Yameen are Jumhooree Party leader Gasim Ibrahim, Adhaalath Party leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla, and former presidents Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed.

According to the EC, they will annul the candidacy of contestants who contest in any political party primary election and bids to run for presidency.

The commission further said that they need to be notified if political parties decide to hold primary elections to chose a candidate to represent their party for the upcoming presidential election or even if they choose to grant a party ticket without primary elections.

Following the EC's announcement, MDP Chairperson Hassan Latheef had said that the EC's word is not the law and that that his party follows the constitution, laws and the party's basic principles, condemning EC's attempts to influence the party primaries.

Latheef further accused EC of attempting to influence the opposition primaries and said that EC's President Ahmed Shareef must be arrested.

Nasheed said that it is believed EC came to this decision since none of the four political leaders have the legal qualifications to run for office following the various amendments brought to the constitution and party guidelines since President Yameen came into power.

The state continues its claims that Nasheed and Imran cannot run for presidency since they are currently doing time for lengthy prison sentences. A 12 year prison sentence was issued on Imran while Nasheed is currently in self-exile in Sri Lanka after the state issued a 13 year sentence on him.

Although the Supreme Court had initially issued a ruling releasing both leaders from incarceration on the 01st of February, political turmoil had flared within the country afterwards.

President Yameen has refused to implement the ruling passed by Supreme Court's full bench and arrested Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali hameed along with officers of the police force who supported the implementation of the ruling.

According to the amendments brought to the constitution since President Yameen assumed office, persons above 65 cannot run for office, making Gayoom and Gasim ineligible to contest.

While Gasim was sentenced to three years, two months and 12 days in incarceration in August 2017, Gayoom is currently behind bars following allegations of bribery and terrorism,

The EC had announced it's decision following the submission of Nasheed's bid for candidacy in the MDP primaries earlier on Saturday.

Although the state continues to assert that Nasheed will not be allowed to run for presidency, Nasheed previously said that he will be granted opportunity to contest at the last minute.

Ballots will proceed in the MDP primaries from 09:00 p.m to 01:00 a.m on the 30th of May 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 to have submitted bid for the party ticket.