Several disqualified candidates go solo despite u-turn

Even though the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) party changed the decision to allow everyone to contest the primary after the first decision to reject the candidature of some of the candidates, some among them who were initially marked for rejection have decided to contest the parliamentary elections independently now.

The PNC on Sunday informed some people that it had decided not to accept the candidacies of some people who applied for the internal primary.

The PNC cited these reasons for not accepting their candidacies:

People gathered at the PNC office on Sunday evening and caused riots in protest. With that, the PNC has now withdrawn its decision to cancel any candidacy.

Although the party withdrew its decision to cancel the candidacy, some of those who were ruled out of the primary have now decided to contest the election on their own.

Businessman Hassan Shiyam, who has decided to contest from Central Henveiru constituency, has also started campaigning as an independent candidate.

"We have worked very sincerely with our lives and wealth and brought this government with very sweet hopes. We have been discarded by the party saying that we are not sincere in return for our sacrifces when party leaders got space on the top," he posted on Facebook on Monday.

"I am confident that the people of Meedhoo constituency will answer this nicely to President Muizzu in the parliamentary elections. By the abundant grace of Allah, I will contest the parliamentary elections on my own and our team will win by a huge margin”.

PNC's decision is also causing the party's ordinary members to leave. Thus:

The date of the PPM-PNC primary has been changed several times and the primary is now set to be held on coming Saturday.