Mohamed Sinan, the former MP for Hithadhoo North constituency, has once again secured the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) ticket following a primary held to determine the party's candidate for the vacant parliamentary seat.
In the election held yesterday, Sinan received 226 votes, defeating his opponent Ahmed Saeed, who garnered 187 votes. A total of 422 people cast their ballots in the primary, with nine votes declared invalid.
The by-election for the Hithadhoo North constituency is scheduled to take place on June 6.
Sinan’s seat was declared vacant on April 12 after the Supreme Court ruled that he no longer met the constitutional requirements for a Member of Parliament. The disqualification stemmed from his failure to make payments on a proven debt in accordance with a court judgment.
The debt involved a MVR 5 million loan from the Maldives Islamic Bank. Sinan settled the outstanding amount only after the case was filed with the Supreme Court. Having cleared the debt, he is now eligible to contest for the parliamentary seat again.
The main opposition, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), will be represented in the by-election by Abdulla Sodiq (Sobe), who served three consecutive terms as the Mayor of Addu City.
Sodiq secured the MDP ticket without a contest, as he was the sole candidate to apply when the party opened for primary nominations.
