Candidacy for Majlis elections to open on Jan 30

Elections Commission (EC) says that candidacy for this year’s parliamentary elections will open on January 30.

In a post on X on Thursday morning, EC’s vice chairman Ismail Habeeb announced that candidacy for the parliamentary elections will be open from January 30 to February 14.

On Wednesday, the EC announced the parliamentary elections would be held on March 17 – despite calls to postpone the elections to after Ramadan.

Habeeb has previously stated that 284,327 people are eligible to vote in the elections, including 145,162 men and 139,165 women.

It is an increase of 1,523 eligible voters from last year’s presidential elections.

The EC published the voter’s list on Wednesday. Complaints regarding the list can be submitted to the commission until January 21.

The election date announced by the EC falls within the first week of Ramadan.

The commission had held off finalizing a date, as it deliberated on calls to postpone the elections to after Ramadan.

However, the EC said on Wednesday that it faces major administrative challenges in holding the elections after Ramadan, as schools are set to reopen in the week after the Eid holidays, which means the commission will face difficulties in securing polling centers.

The EC also said that given that the last 10 days of the Ramadan have been declared public holidays, the commission would face difficulties in carrying out election-related work in collaboration with relevant state institutions.

EC had originally asked the Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee to make legal amendments to push up the date for parliamentary elections to before Ramadan.

However, the committee recommended postponing the election to after Ramadan.

The decision by EC to hold the elections on March 17 came after the main opposition MDP sent a letter to the EC last week, urging the commission to hold the elections after Ramadan.

In the letter, MDP said they had been informed the commission planned on holding the elections during Ramadan, and alleged that the decision involves government influence.