Former deputy speaker Nazim to contest PNC primaries for Majlis election

Former deputy speaker of Parliament, Ahmed Nazim has submitted his candidacy for the People’s National Congress (PNC) primaries in a bid to reclaim the Dhiggaru parliamentary seat.

Nazim had lost his Dhiggaru seat in 2015, following a conviction for corruption. The conviction was squashed by the Supreme Court in 2018, after which he unsuccessfully ran for the Dhiggaru seat in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

In a post on X on Sunday, Nazim said he has filed his candidacy for the PNC primaries. He plans on running for the Dhiggaru seat again, in next year’s parliamentary elections.

Nazim contested the 2019 elections as an independent candidate. He lost to Ikram Hassan, a politician from the then-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Ikram won 1,012 votes, while Nazim won 751.

In April 2015, during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration, Nazim was sentenced to 25 years in jail on corruption charges, for defrauding the state of MVR 1.4 million by submitting bids on behalf of non-existent companies.

But the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in December 2018, after Yameen lost the presidential election to former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Nazim had worked closely with Yameen back when the former president ran People’s Alliance (PA). But the relationship later deteriorated, and Nazim was jailed for corruption.

Nazim later testified against Yameen in his money laundering trial.