Candidacy opens for V. Thinadhoo Council presidency; byelection scheduled for Nov

Elections Commission (EC) on Sunday opened candidacy for the vacant seat of president of V. Thinadhoo Council.

The commission says that candidacy will remain open until 02:00 pm October 26.

The commission will be accepting candidacy forms between 08:30 am and 02:00 pm except for Fridays, and between 03:30 pm and 06:00 pm on Fridays.

Meanwhile, the byelection will be held from 08:00 am to 04:00 pm on November 28.

The seat of president of Thinadhoo Council has been vacant since July, after the Local Government Authority (LGA) established Shujau Ali, who was elected as a candidate of The Democrats, which was later dissolved for failing to meet the minimum membership requirement, had lost his seat for floor crossing.

Shujau got elected on the Democrats’ ticket, and took office on May 17.

The Democrats was dissolved by the EC on June 2. And on June 5, the LGA placed Shujau under suspension, citing a review into allegations of floor crossing.

On July 3, LGA said that the EC has informed the authority that Shujau got registered to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on May 19.

The LGA stated that under the existing legal framework, any councilor elected on a political party's ticket who defects to another party and is registered as a member of that party in the EC registry during their term automatically loses their seat.

But Shujau argued that the Democrats got dissolved after he took office, and believes that the existing laws do not cover the specific scenario.

He also accused the LGA of failing to properly examine the law or follow proper procedure before making its decision, and vowed he would reclaim his seat in the byelection.

The Decentralization Act states that councilors will lose their seat if they tender their resignation, or under the following three circumstances:

• If a councilor who gets elected on a party ticket voluntarily leaves the party during their term, and the move gets registered by the EC
• If a councilor who gets elected on a party ticket becomes a member of a different party during their term, and the move gets registered with the EC
• If an independent councilor joins a party during their term, and the move gets registered with the EC.

The LGA directed the Thinadhoo Council’s vice president Sameer Ahmed to take over the running of the council until a new president is elected.

The Democrats’, founded by former President Mohamed Nasheed on July 11, 2023, was dissolved by the EC in June for failing to meet the minimum membership requirement of 3,000. Nasheed, along with many of his allies, had left the Democrats and rejoined the MDP last year.