MDP candidate contests disputed Veyvah vote with Supreme Court

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate who was originally declared a victor in the local council elections in L. Veyvah, but lost the seat to ruling People’s National Congress (PNC)’s candidate following a High Court ruling earlier this month, has contested the decision with the Supreme Court.

MDP’s Ahsan Naeem had won a seat in the Veyvah Council after beating PNC’s Mohamed Nazeeh by a margin of just two votes.

Ahsan received 121 votes, while Nazeeh won 119.

Nazeeh contested the results with the High Court, which, on May 13, annulled three disputed ballot papers, which were all votes cast for Ahsan.

With the decision, Nazeeh was declared the winner with 119 votes, while Nazeeh had his votes cut down to 118.

Ahsan has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, contesting the ruling.

However, it is unclear if the court has registered the case.

Nazeeh had reportedly not taken oath of office along with the rest of the councilors on May 17.

The High Court had made the decision by a majority consensus of two out of three judges on the bench. Judges Mohamed Shaneez Abdulla and Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, the latter of whom had run unsuccessfully on behalf of the PNC in the 2024 parliamentary elections, had decided in favor of invalidating the ballots, while Ibrahim Mahir decided there were no grounds to change the election results.

The Elections Commission (EC) had conducted a recount before Nazeeh had contested the results with the High Court. While both candidates each lost one vote, the recount did not change the victor