PPM-PNC senate votes against Yameen's directive to boycott election

Main opposition PPM-PNC senate on Sunday voted against a directive from their jailed leader Abdulla Yameen to boycott the upcoming presidential election.

After the Elections Commission (EC) on Tuesday rejected Yameen's candidacy as the PPM's presidential candidate due to his 11-year prison sentence for bribery and money laundering and an unpaid fine of USD 5 million, Yameen filed a constitutional motion at the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the EC decision.

Supreme Court on Sunday ruled in favour of the Elections Commission's (EC) decision to reject Yameen's candidacy over the his jail sentence and unpaid fine.

PPM's affiliate, PNC has elected Male mayor Dr Mohamed Muizz as a backup candidate, on the instructions of Yameen.

However, following the verdict, Yameen asked PPM to boycott the election.

PPM-PNC leadership met after Yameen's directive and decided to call a senate vote on boycotting the election. 

At the senate meeting, which saw heated exchanges, 67 out of the 113 members voted against boycotting the election, while 46 voted in favour of Yameen's directive. 

The PPM-PNC leadership will meet later to decide on which party to field a candidate from.

The Supreme Court did not grant Yameen's request to grant to extend the nomination deadline, so that PPM can filed an alternate candidate in case Yameen loses his motion.