The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for Sunday to issue a ruling on the candidacy rejection of former President Abdulla Yameen.
Yameen's candidacy for the September presidential election was rejected by the Elections Commission (EC) because he is serving a prison sentence.
The opposition leader is in jail for a bribery conviction related to the lease of Vaavu Aarah in the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) corruption scandal.
Yameen challenged the EC decision at the Supreme Court and arguments were heard on Friday.
The session continued for over seven hours with the court hearing arguments from Yameen, the EC, the Attorney General (AG) office and the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
Adhadhu understands that a ruling will be announced on Sunday, but the court has not yet made an official announcement.
According to the constitution, if a presidential candidate has been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a term of more than 12 months, three years must have elapsed since his release or pardon.
Some lawyers believe that a constitutional case could be filed at the Supreme Court to interpret the sentence referred to in the provision as the final judgment after the appeal process is completed.
Yameen's lawyers argue that he is eligible to contest as the appeal process has not been completed in the Aarah bribery conviction. They also claimed that it is his right, under the constitution, to be able to contest elections.
