President of the Elections Commission (EC), Ahmed Shareef has said that 136 candidates in the Local Council Election has and the Women’s Development Committees Elections have withdrawn their names.

Speaking on Dhivehi Channel’s “Havaasa” program last night, Shareef said that at the end of December 2020, 136 candidates from the two elections have withdrawn and a high number of them are MDP candidates.

And so, 84 candidates, consisting of 24 MDP candidates, 15 PPM candidates, 7 JP candidates and one MDA candidate along with 34 independent candidates, initially running in the Local Council Election has withdrawn so far.

As for the Women’s Development Committees Election, 32 candidates from MDP, three candidates from PPM and 17 independent candidates have withdrawn totaling to 52 candidates withdrawing from the election.

The chance to withdraw their names from the candidate list was opened on 23 June 2020.

Amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the parliament passed a bill to delay the Council Elections to this year. According to the bill, the elections must be held in one year from ratification; the date falls on 9 May 2021. And a date for a new election has to be declared with seven days after the current lock down is lifted.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) today has extended the health emergency lock down to 3 February 2021. The Elections Commission has previously said that the elections cannot be held while a national health emergency status is in effect. And it would take time to prepare after the state of emergency is lifted.

The Commission has previously aimed to hold the elections before 4 April 2020. And with the new stay of election in effect, the Elections Commission worked to hold the election in March. However, they have said that that the election cannot be held on that date.