MDP to contest all seats in LCE2020

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has stated that the party will contest every seat in the upcoming local council elections slated for April 4th.

Speaking at a press conference held on Sunday, MDP's campaign spokesperson, Afshan Latheef announced that candidates have been allocated for every seat, adding that work to award tickets and collect the necessary information for the candidacy forms is currently underway.

Afshan also revealed that, as usual, a special event will be held to mark the form submission to the Elections Commission.

As such, a special ceremony for the campaign launch of MDP's candidates is set to be held on February 21st at every island and at the same time.

According to MDP, arrangements will also be made to live-broadcast a speech by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Speaker Nasheed during the ceremony, in every island across the country

While arrangements will be made to prepare posters, banners, leaflets and booklets for the campaign, the party also plans to compile a separate manifesto for each individual island. This manifesto detail the specific island's information, ongoing and future projects, PSIP's as well as projects formulated during the party's Council Workshop.

Speaking at one of MDP's previous campaign events for the local council elections, President Solih urged the Maldivian people to cast their ballots for candidates of the main ruling party, stating that MDP candidates are “ready” to implement the government’s development agenda.

Speaker Nasheed also expressed his assurance that the main ruling party will win by a large margin while speaking at the same event.

Afshan further announced that the party will also be holding primaries for the women's development committee elections on Monday. She added that the details of polling stations will be publicised on Sunday afternoon.

The upcoming local council and women's development committee elections will be the first elections in the country to be held on the same day.

Over 900 councillors are to be elected in the Local Council Elections this year, with 929 to be elected in the Women’s Development Committee Elections.

As per a recent amendment to the Decentralization Act, a total of seven councillors are to be elected to all islands with over 3,000 residents.

While the current administration continues efforts to ensure equality for women and to involve more in authoritative roles, the amendment to the Decentralization Act also states that all councils with five officials must include two women while those with seven members must comprise of three.