Adhaalath to elect president, VP later this month

Adhaalath Party has opened the call for interested parties to compete for the position of the party's president and vice-president.

According to provisions in Article 41.1 (b) and 41.3 (c) of Adhaalath Party's internal procedures, a president and vice-president need to be elected for the party's third term through a presidential election. The voting is set to take place on January 23.

Individuals interested in participating in Adhaalath's internal elections must do so on a ticket, and are required to submit candidacy forms to the party office before 2pm on January 9.

Referring to media speculation that Adhaalath Party had only recently amended their internal procedure to allow female candidates to compete for the position of president and vice-president in their internal elections, the party announced through their official Twitter that no such changes had been made to their internal procedure in the recent past.

Women have continued to feature prominently in leadership positions for Adhaalath Party since its inception, with Shidhatha Shareef, Council Member for the party and President of the party's Foreign Affairs Committee, having served as Deputy Minister of Health under the Yameen presidency, as well as occupying a slot for Adhaalath Party in the incumbent administration's cabinet as Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services.

Shidhatha announced her resignation from her post as minister in February 2020 following a decision by the parliamentary group of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which holds a supermajority at the People's Majlis, to vote against allowing her to remain as a member of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's Cabinet.