280 individuals have applied to contest in Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s primary elections for the 2019 parliamentary elections, it has said.

The deadline to submit applications ended on Wednesday.

MDP’s Elections Committee’s chair, Mohamed Ibrahim Manik said that a total of 280 individuals had submitted forms to compete in the primaries; this includes 259 men and 21 women.

While the party had earlier announced the decision to compete in all 87 constituencies, Manik noted that there were no applications for Nilandhoo constituency.

The highest number of applicants were for Villimalé constituency, with nine individuals having expressed interest to compete for the constituency.

Furthermore, party tickets were confirmed to 10 individuals as they were the only ones to have applied for respective constituencies.

However, the party is yet to release details of applicants.

MDP is currently verifying the forms are to release its candidates’ list “within three days.”

While those interested in contesting in the party’s primaries for the parliamentary election are to submit 200 membership forms each, Manik said that they have received a total of 33,000 forms.

With the new members, Manik said that over 81,000 individuals will be eligible to vote in its internal election.

The parliamentary election are to be held in April next year.