The main opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) senate has rejected former President Abdulla Yameen's instruction to boycott the upcoming presidential election after failing to secure his candidacy.
At a senate meeting today, 45 senators voted in favor of boycotting the election whilst 67 senators voted to contest. A total of 126 senators were in attendance but not all the members participated in the vote.
Despite the decision to contest, the PPM has yet to decide on a candidate.
The PPM asked the Supreme Court to allow the party to field a candidate if Yameen remained barred from running. While the deadline for submitting candidacy papers elapses tomorrow, Male' Mayor Dr Mohamed Muizzu is prepared to stand as the candidate of the PPM's sister party People's National Congress (PNC).
In order to be eligible, presidential candidates are required to not be serving a prison sentence or have a decreed debt.
Other candidates in the presidential election are President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate, Ilyas Labeeb from The Democrats, Qasim Ibrahim from the Jumhooree Party (JP), Mohamed Nazim from the Maldives National Party (MNP), Faris Maumoon from the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) and former home minister Umar Naseer.
