More than 200 candidates vie for Maldives parliamentary seat

Maldives Elections Commission has received 236 applications from candidates to contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections in March, local media reported here on Tuesday. Commission member Ali Mohamed Manik told reporters candidates from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had applied to contest for all the 85 seats of the parliament. The ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) had only filed 37 applications, despite the party's announcement that it would contest 50 constituencies, he said. Manik said the pro-government Jumhoory Party (JP) had submitted 29 applications. But vice chair of the party's selection committee told local media outlet Haveeru they had submitted only 28 applications. Pro-government Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) had submitted six applications, whilst 11 candidates from the government aligned Adhaalath Party had applied, Manik said. He also said that five candidates from Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) had filed their candidacy. According to the commission, 62 independent candidates had submitted their applications so far. The religious conservative Adhaalath party had requested parliament seats from the ruling coalition, but the coalition had only given seats to its official partners; 49 to PPM, 28 to JP and eight to MDA. Adhaalath was to be given some seats from the seats allocated to those parties. PPM offered two of its seats and JP allocated a maximum of four of its seats to Adhaalath. But Adhaalath rejected the offer and decided to run for 13 constituencies independently. The deadline for filing candidacy falls on Wednesday.