13 more candidates withdraw from local elections

13 more candidates have withdrawn from the local elections scheduled for 2021.

Eight out of the 13 candidates retracted their candidacies from the local council elections and the remaining five candidates withdrew from the Women’s Development Committee Elections.

Five members contesting on main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) tickets are included among those who withdrew from the council elections, and others include one representing the opposition Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), one from Jumhooree Party (JP) and an independent candidate.

Two independent candidates and five running on MDP tickets for the Women’s Development Committee elections, also withdrew their candidacies.

This comes at a time the Speaker of Parliament and Former President Mohamed Nasheed has urged the candidates to refrain from withdrawing their names from the local elections, having stressed on the increasing number of withdrawals.

With this being said, it must be noted that mostly candidates running on the main ruling party’s tickets have been retracting from the local elections.

The opportunity to withdraw from the LCE and Women’s Development Committee Elections slated for 2020 was granted by the Elections Commission (EC) on June 23 last year, under the Local Council Elections Act.

At a time Elections Commissioner, Ahmed Shareef has stated that the elections may be held in April if the Local Council Elections Special Provisions Act is amended, the People’s Majlis is scheduled to debate on the amendment bill to the Local Council Elections Special Provisions act in a second extraordinary sitting, slated for January 17.

The first extraordinary sitting regarding the matter was held on January 13, with the purpose of bringing the required legislative amendments to ensure elections are not delayed any further.

This comes at a time Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath had also noted that the amendment to the legislation will be proposed to the parliament as soon as possible, as the elections may only be held once the Special Provisions Act on Local Council Elections is amended.

The Local Council Elections and the Women’s Development Committee elections were postponed indefinitely through a special Bill, ratified by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on 10th May 2020. The bill stated that the Local Council Elections were being postponed in light of the ongoing pandemic, and that the Council and Women's Development Committees' elections, which were originally scheduled to be held in April 2020, will take place one year after the bill’s ratification; the deadline for the voting is May 9, 2021.