The People's National Congress (PNC)'s presidential candidate, Male' City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, has appointed Fares Mathoda MP Hussain Mohamed Latheef as his running mate.
Ina tweet, Muizzu Saturday said he had selected Hussein Mohamed Latheef as his running mate. The decision was underlined as a responsibility held by Muizzu to select a running mate and complete the timely submission of candidacy forms.
Regarding Hussain, Muizzu said he was a young, educated, and capable politician. Hussain is currently serving his second term in parliament.
Despite having appointed a running mate, Muizzu expressed his hope for the main opposition leader and former President, Abdulla Yameen, to be able to participate in the upcoming election.
Yameen is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence following a conviction involving money laundering and bribery. While his appeal is pending at the High Court, Article 109(f) of the Constitution stipulates that an individual sentenced to over 12 months in prison cannot contest a presidential election until three years have elapsed since the sentence's completion or pardon. As a result, Yameen's candidacy filing on August 1 was rejected by th Election Commission for not meeting the criteria stipulated in Article 109(f), which led to a legal challenge currently underway in the Supreme Court.
As the deadline for presidential candidacy submission looms, the PNC has preemptively appointed Male' City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu as their "backup" presidential candidate in anticipation of a situation where Yameen cannot participate.
"My prayer is that before the August 7 deadline, our candidate President Yameen will have the opportunity to contest, thus negating the necessity of implementing our backup strategy," Muizzu said.
Muizzu's announcement comes while the PPM last night said it would produce an alternate candidate in the case President Yameen is barred from contesting the presidential election, denoted as Plan B. The selection of a PNC candidate has been labeled as "Plan C" should Plans A and B falter.
