Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb has been the first to Maldives Third-Way Democrats (MTD).

Adeeb handed over his membership application to Ismail Asif, the leader of the yet-to-be registered political party.

Adeeb is serving a 33-year prison sentence on multiple counts of corruption and terrorism for his involvement in the attempted assassination of President Abdulla Yameen and the MMPRC embezzlement scandal.

He is currently under house arrest due to health issues.

On Thursday, the Elections Commission gave permission to register MTD as a political party.

3,000 signatures need to be acquired within three months to register a political party and a party needs 10,000 members to receive funding from the state.

While the Elections Commission also gave lawyer Abdulla Haseen permission to create his own party in August, he had failed to fulfill the requirements within three months.

Maldives currently has six registered political parties. They are Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Jumhooree Party (JP), Adhaalath Party (AP), Dhivehi Rayyinthunge Party (DRP), and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA).