Hithadhoo Central MP Ahmed Rasheed has withdrawn his candidacy to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The reason for Ahmed's withdrawal has not been disclosed either by him or his party, The Democrats, under whose banner he intended to contest the election.
The deadline for nominations to contest the upcoming parliamentary election expired at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, with a total of 381 applications submitted by the deadline. Of these, the applications of nine candidates were rejected by the EC.
According to EC's Vice President Ismail Habeeb, Four of the 372 eligible candidates have since withdrawn their names. These individuals include the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate for the Mulah constituency, the PNC candidate for Gadhdhoo, the Democrats for Hithadhoo Central, and an independent candidate for the Kinbidhoo constituency.
A total of 238 candidates from seven parties are contesting the parliamentary elections. This includes 22 women and 216 men.
The breakdown of candidates by party is as follows:
MDP: 6 females, 84 males, total 90
PNC: 2 females, 87 males, total 89
Democrats: 12 females, 27 males, total 39
JP: 2 females, 8 males, total 10
AP: 4 males, total 4
MDA: 4 males, total 4
MNP: 2 males, total 2
Independent: 20 females, 110 males, total 130
The last 2019 parliamentary elections saw a total of 386 candidates contesting the election: 43 women and 343 men. Of the total 368 candidates contesting the parliamentary elections this year, 42 are women and 326 men. This represents 11.41 percent female and 88.58 percent male candidates.
