Maldives' first appellate court on Wednesday refused to hear the challenge of the electoral watchdog's decision to reject a candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections.
Elections Commission had explained that the relatively unknown independent candidate, Hussain Naseer's candidacy was rejected as there had been discrepancies in the signatures of the 1,500 people he had submitted supporting his candidacy.
Naseer has nominated religious scholar Sheikh Nasrulla Musthafa as his running mate who had recently been charged over a Hajj pilgrimage scam.
The commission said the criminal record of Naseer's running mate was another reason behind the decision to reject his candidacy.
However, Musthafa argued that the electoral watchdog has violated Naseer's rights by not giving him sufficient time to re-file the candidacy as the deadline expired on Friday.
Naseer has asked the High Court to order the elections commission to allow him to re-file the candidacy.
However, the High Court said it had not found any grounds to hear the challenge as an elections related complaint.
The first appellate court's decision means that the crunch elections slated for September 23 would be a two horse race between incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom who is seeking re-election and opposition alliance candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih who has been backed by Yameen's main political rivals including the now jailed former presidents Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed.
Unlike in previous elections, the presidential race would be decided in the first round and is widely seen more as a 'referendum' with a straight choice between the opposition and the government more than an election.
