Parliamentarian Ilyas Labeeb has submitted his candidacy form to contest in the presidential election.
Ilyas, the candidate of The Democrats, handed over his candidacy form to President of the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) Fuad Thaufeeq. He has also appointed Hussain Amr as his running mate. Amr is the former Managing Director of State Trading Organisation (STO). He was dismissed from the position after the Privatisation and Corporation Board (PCB) received the request from the President's Office in May.
Ilyas secured The Democrats' presidential ticket with 94% approval in the primary election. Ilyas was the only member to contest in the primary election. The Democrats' regulations state that if only one candidate submits a form to contest in the primary election, he will receive the ticket if he secures at least 10% of the votes cast in the primary election. The Democrats was formed by supporters of Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed after leaving the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).