The Supreme Court has declared that the law stating that candidates who lost in primaries can run for Parliament is against the Constitution.

As such, Supreme Court has declared that any candidates who have lost in the party Primary elections will be able to run in the Parliamentary elections.  

Article 10 of the Political Parties Act dictates that candidates who have lost in lawful or Constitutional party primary elections will not be allowed to run in Parliamentary elections under any category. The Act further states that the candidacy will be terminated for any person who applies at the Elections Commission to run in Parliamentary elections after a primaries loss.

Three primaries candidates had however appealed to dismiss this Article at the Supreme Court, citing that it is unconstitutional. The candidates include Special Envoy to the President, Abdulla Jabir, Attorney Abdul Maaniu Hussain and Ahmed Mohamed.

The three appeals at Supreme Court had been combined together and a ruling was rendered today.

The Supreme Court ordered the Elections Commission to accept any submissions for candidacy that take place before 4:00 pm on 4 March 2019. As per the Supreme Court ruling, this includes any candidate who has submitted a form to run in the Parliamentary elections after a loss in party primaries.

An amendment to barr candidates who have lost in a primaries election from running in an election was proposed at Parliament following the last local council elections. This was during the administration of former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.