Muizzu files presidential candidacy

Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, the Male’ city mayor and presidential candidate for the People’s National Congress (PNC), has filed his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election.

Muizzu submitted his candidacy form to the elections center located in Dharubaaruge, Male’ City, on Monday morning.

He was accompanied by PNC’s leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla (Adhurey), and Mohamed Tholal, the secretary-general of the main opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) – PNC’s coalition partner.

PPM’s leader, former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was sentenced to 11 years in prison for money laundering and bribery charges in connection to the sale of V. Aarah for resort development on December 25, 2022.

Despite his imprisonment, he submitted his candidacy for the September 9 election last week.

The EC rejected Yameen’s candidacy due to his conviction, citing Article 109 (f) of the Constitution, which disqualifies candidates who have been sentenced to over 12 months in prison for a crime, unless it has been at least three years since they have completed their sentence or have been pardoned.

He contested the decision with the Supreme Court, which ruled on Sunday that the EC was right to declare the opposition leader ineligible to contest the election.

Following his unsuccessful attempt to have EC’s decision to reject his candidacy revoked, Yameen reportedly sent a note, instructing the PPM-PNC leadership to consider boycotting the election.

However, the leadership convened for an emergency meeting to discuss the instruction, and decided to put the matter to the vote of the joint senate.

The senate decided against boycotting the election with a vote of 67-45.

In addition to contesting the EC’s decision with the Supreme Court, Yameen had also instructed PNC to produce its own presidential candidate as a “backup.”

The PNC’s senate took a vote to decide its presidential candidate on Thursday, which Muizzu won against PNC’s deputy leader, Madduvari MP Adam Shareef Umar with a slim margin of 25-23.

After Muizzu won the PNC ticket, Yameen loyalists said that Muizzu was Yameen’s “Plan C”, and that his “Plan B” was to have an alternate candidate from PPM.

This was not acceptable to Muizzu’s supporters, and has created a rift within the PPM-PNC coalition.