MDP parliamentary primary deadline extended

The deadline for contesting the internal primary of the opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has been extended to a week.

The opportunity was opened on December 16 to see who was interested to contest on the MDP ticket. On the same day, the MDP announced that the parliamentary primary will be held on 26 and 27 next month.

"The deadline for expressions of interest for members wishing to contest on the MDP ticket has been extended until 4 pm on Saturday, December 30, 2023," the party said in a statement on Saturday.

The MDP has previously said that it will hold primaries among eligible candidates after considering those interested in contesting the ticket.

The conditions for the primary candidates are:

When asked why they are looking first at the interested parties and whether the primary will be opened separately, the party's deputy chairman Ibrahim Waheed said:

"[The party's] previous primaries send all the candidates to the primary. This time we intend to clean up the records and then go to a primary," Waheed said.

When asked about the rationale behind the national assembly's decision, he said that "since the party is in the opposition right now, it seems that some constituencies can take a decision even without going to the primaries".