Parties to fight vigorously to win the by-elections on 14 April

Four by-elections announced by the Elections Commission will take place on April 14, with two seats in parliament and two island council seats being contested.

These include elections of councilors for the vacant seat in both Thaa Atoll Gaadhiffushi Island council and Haa Dhaal Atoll Kumundhoo island council, and the election of MPs for the parliament seats of Thaa Atoll Thimarafushi Constituency (formerly held by MDP MP Mohamed Musthafa) and Kaafu Atoll Kaashidhoo Constituency (formerly held by Independent MP Ismail Abdul Hameed).

The two MPs were unseated after the Supreme Court recently upheld court sentences against the pair, and disqualified them.

Former MDP MP Musthafa was unseated after Supreme Court on February 20 ruled in favor of a case lodged by the Interim Vice President of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Umar Naseer, in which the court had found that Musthafa had an unpaid debt. Musthafa owed US$500,000 to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

According to the Maldives Constitution, an MP with a legally proven unpaid debt who is found to be not paying the debt regularly will be disqualified as an MP.

Former Independent MP Hameed lost his seat after he was found guilty of a corruption case during his tenure in Male Municipality as a Director.

Hameed was found guilty of using his position as then Director of Male Municipality to buy a barge for the waste management unit, claiming that it had been received when it had not, and paying the remaining 50 percent of the bill to the company concerned.

The Criminal Court sentenced Hameed to to one and a half years banishment. According to the constitution, an elected MP loses his seat if the MP is found guilty of a criminal offence, and if the sentence counts to more than a year.

Political parties including the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Jumhoree Party (JP) and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have announced that their candidates will be contesting in the by-elections.

Two parties, the MDP and PPM, have fielded candidates for all four elections while DRP and JP have each fielded a candidate in one election.

However, PPM after fielding their candidate Mohamed Waheed for the Kaashidhoo constituency parliamentary seat, former lawyer of Ex President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom , decided to support the JP candidate for the seat, business tycoon Abdulla Jabir, amid reports of internal conflict within the party over the decision.

The ‘out of favor’ candidate of PPM openly called in a PPM rally held recently that he would not support JP candidate Jabir, whilst the PPM’s leadership, including former president Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, stated that PPM had fully backed Jabir for the sake of the “national interest”.

The unseated MP for Thimarafushi Constituency, Musthafa, has decided to re-run in the election for the same seat he lost, while PPM fielded former People’s Alliance (PA) and Elections Commission’s Secretary General Ahmed Shareef.

Two other parties had also filed their candidacy to the elections commission, which included the a lost candidate in the primary held by MDP to decide to whom the party ticket would be given.

The second candidate, prominent lawyer Abdullah Shair, who filed his candidacy as an independent, was rejected by the elections commission citing that he had not submitted the required documents within the specified time period. Shair has filed a case in High Court asking the court to order the Elections Commission to accept his candidacy.

Three candidates are contesting the island council by-election of Haa Dhaal Atoll Kumundhoo island. They are Abdul Hameed Abdul Kareem from DRP, Aishath Hassan from MDP and Mohamed Shaafee from PPM.

Two candidates are contesting the island council by-election of Thaa Atoll Gaadhiffushi island: Hussain Shiyaau from PPM and Mohamed Irushaad from MDP.

Both the MDP and the PPM have expressed confidence in winning the elections and are heavily campaigning for the seats.

DRP and other coalition partners of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan have backed the PPM candidate for the Thimarafushi Constituency parliamentary seat, and backed JP Candidate Abdullah Jaabir for Kaashidhoo Constituency Parliamentary seat.

The Elections Commission has also announced a by-election for the Noonu atoll Maafaru Island Council after the MDP Councilor Anwar Abdul Ghanee lost his seat after he was removed from the Party.

According to the law, a councilor loses his seat if he is removed from the party in which he had been elected.

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