Jailed opposition leader former President Abdulla Yameen has given up on the idea of boycotting the presidential election and has decided to support Male' Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
Muizzu was elected as the People's National Congress (PNC) candidate last Thursday. Yameen asked the PNC to nominate a backup candidate in the event that he is unable to contest.
The Elections Commission (EC) rejected his candidacy due to his bribery conviction and prison sentence. Yameen challenged the decision at the Supreme Court but the court upheld EC's decision and ruled that Yameen is ineligible to contest.
Officials from the largest opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) have said that plan A is fielding Yameen as a candidate. But if his candidacy rejection is upheld, they will opt for Plan B and field a PPM candidate.
However, the plans changed after Yameen requested PPM which is in a coalition with PNC to boycott the September 9 election following the Supreme Court judgment.
Sixty-seven senators voted to contest in the election while 45 voted to boycott. Following the vote, Yameen repeated his request to boycott the elections.
But on Monday morning, Muizzu submitted his candidacy papers with the backing of the PPM-PNC coalition leaders. He told reporters that a press conference would be held to announce whether he had Yameen's support.
Shortly afterwards, Yameen’s senior lawyer and his running mate, former Vice President Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed tweeted that Yameen has changed his mind because the PPM senate does not want to boycott.
"President Yameen has changed his thinking in line with the senate's view. He says that the candidates will have his full support," Jameel said.
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.
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.
But the full bench of the apex court unanimously declared that Yameen is ineligible to contest the presidential election because of his prison sentence.
