Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has requested its members to check whether they are registered with another party and urged them to resolve any issues as soon as possible. The party made the request amid preparations to hold its primary election on January 28, 2023, to elect a candidate to contest in next year's presidential election.
In an announcement, MDP said party members should immediately check their registration and submit a complaint to the Election Commission of the Maldives (ECM) if they have been registered with another party. MDP said the commission will revert the member to the party once the complaint is submitted.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed are contesting in the MDP Primary. Interested members are required to submit their candidacy with signatures of 500 supporters by December 24. MDP will publish the final list of candidates on December 26 and the voters’ list on December 28. After which, members can submit complaints related to the voters’ list by December 31 and the final voters’ list will be published on January 3. MDP will be accepting applications for the candidates’ representatives from January 10-15 before holding the primary election on January 28.
The number of MDP members fell from 92,000 to 54,000 after the party's National Assembly decided to accept the ECM register as the official database for its membership registry. Therefore, 39,911 MDP members who were deleted from the register were given three months to validate their membership. Currently, the ECM has 58,000 members on the MDP register and they are eligible to vote in the primary election.