The main opposition, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)'s Secretary General Mohamed Tholal, has been appointed as the official election agent of the party's presidential candidate and former President Abdulla Yameen.
Tholal's appointment was announced today by Abdul Raheem Abdulla, the interim leader of the PPM-PNC coalition, in a tweet.
Tholal was the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs during Yameen's presidency. He has also served as the Secretary General of the Election Commission.
Although the PPM-PNC coalition has named Yameen as its presidential candidate, he is currently ineligible to contest the September election as he is serving an 11-year sentence on a money laundering and bribery conviction. His candidacy hinges on a higher court quashing the lower court verdict. Despite this, the opposition remains confident that Yameen's name would appear on the ballot paper.
PPM-PNC is currently in the process of submitting Yameen's candidacy form to the Elections Commission. The party has requested the assistance of the Maldives Correctional Service to arrange for President Yameen to sign the forms, a request that Corrections has agreed to support.
