Maldives' electoral watchdog on Thursday announced its decision to delay the date to open for candidate filing for the upcoming presidential elections by a week.
Elections Commission had earlier announced that candidate filing would be opened on July 15. However the elections chief Ahmed Shareef Adam told local reporters on Thursday that the date has now been pushed back by a week to July 23.
He however, was to quick to assure that the decision would not affect the previously announced election date.
Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is seeking re-election amid unprecedented political strife in the archipelago.
Former home minister Umar Naseer has also announced his intention to stand for the elections and already launched his campaign as an independent candidate.
The main opposition leaders including former presidents Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed along with Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim and religiously conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla inked pact to form what they called a 'reform alliance'.
With the candidacy of the four leaders - all convicted and serving sentences on questionable charges in serious doubt, the united opposition had announced plans to nominate a single candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.
However, the coalition appeared to have ended with Nasheed contesting and winning the highly disputed presidential primary held by his party before his shock decision to forfeit his ticket.
Veteran Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has since been named as Nasheed's replacement.
According to the long awaited opposition agreement, the presidential candidate would be Solih while the running mate would be nominated by JP which it said would be announced this Saturday.
