The presidential primary to decide a presidential candidate of The Democrats, a political party led by Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, will be held on Friday, July 28.

The party has also opened applications for the presidential primaries starting today.

Those who wish to contest in the presidential primaries are directed to submit their documents along with a copy of their name and ID card to the 10th floor of the party's office, H. Maizandhoshuge, or to the e-mail of the Election Committee by 4 pm on Saturday.

Members who have so far applied to the party to become a member of the party will be eligible to vote in the primary.

On Friday, voting for the primaries will be held from 2 pm to 6 pm.

The timeline for presidential primaries:

- July 20: Primary announcement and opening of applications

- July 20: The list of eligible voters is made public and open for filing complaints

- July 22: Deadline to file complaints on the list of eligible voters, 4 pm

- July 22: Applications for presidential primaries closed by 4 pm

- July 23: Release of the permanent list of eligible voters

- July 23: Release of the list of candidates contesting the primaries

- July 28: Voting for primaries from 2 pm to 6 pm

The Democrats are open for the presidential primaries after Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim, MNP president Mohamed Nazim, and The Democrats agreed yesterday to field a single candidate from all opposition parties in the upcoming presidential elections in consultation with PPM and MRM.

However, after the trio made the announcement at a news conference held yesterday, the main opposition party PPM said that former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the party's presidential candidate, should be declared as the candidate fielded by all parties.

President Yameen has however lost the opportunity to contest the upcoming presidential elections due to an 11-year prison sentence he is serving in the V. Atoll corruption case. He has not been able to clear himself of the case, as the appeal is yet to be heard in the High Court.

If the High Court overturns the Criminal Court's verdict, he will no longer have to serve the sentence and will be eligible to apply and contest. However, with the judges on leave, the case has not moved forward and has been stalled for the time being.

Nominations for the presidential elections will open on Sunday and will be open for a period of 14 days. The deadline expires on August 6.