The Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) has said that the applications submitted to clear criminal records on the evening of Sunday, August 6, may not be processed before the deadline for presidential candidacy submissions.
The authority said that applications submitted after 9:00 p.m. on Sunday evening may not be processed in time for the candidacy submission deadline.
The Elections Commission (EC) earlier announced candidacy submission will expire at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, August 7.
DJA said that the process of clearing criminal or police records necessitates individual collection from all the courts in the Maldives, as there is currently no automated central database system in place.
So far, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate and current president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Maldives National Party (MNP) leader Mohamed Nazim, and The Democrats’ candidate Ilyas Labeeb have submitted their candidacy forms to the commission.
It has also been reported that Jumhooree Party (JP) leader and Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) leader Faris Maumoon, who is contending independently, will be submitting their candidacy forms some on Monday.
Although Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) candidate and former president Abdulla Yameen was the first to submit his candidacy, his application was rejected by EC citing his constitutional ineligibility due to his criminal conviction on charges of money laundering and graft, along with an outstanding USD 5 million fine related to the Vaavu atoll Aarah lease case.
Yameen and his party appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which upheld EC’s decision on Sunday.
After his Supreme Court defeat, Yameen urged the opposition coalition to boycott the upcoming presidential election. However, his please faced opposition from several coalition members. Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and its coalition partner People’s National Congress (PNC) convened a joint senate meeting on Sunday afternoon, during which the majority of members rejected Yameen's appeal for a boycott.
However, Yameen did not accept the senate's decision whic resulted in the leadership of both parties to hold discussions on Sunday evening, during which the coalition ultimately resolved to participate in the upcoming election.
Following the decision of the PPM-PNC senate, the coalition decided to field Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, who has secured PNC's ticket, as their candidate.