Civil Court rules against annulment of MDP

Civil Court has ruled that the Primary held by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) for Feydhoo, won by Mohamed Nihad, cannot be annulled.

The case requesting to annul MDP’s Feydhoo Primary was filed by incumbent Feydhoo MP Alhan Fahmy, who also contested the Primary.

Civil Court said that MDP’s Election Regulation states that an election can only be annulled if there is a chance that its result might be affected, and no such claim was made in the case filed by Alhan.

The court said that Alhan had referred to focal point personnel and claimed that the voters’ list used at the Primary held on 31 January was invalid, however, no documents were submitted to prove that the list had been invalidated by MDP’s Election Committee.

The court said that both lists used at the Primary had been approved by the party’s Election Committee, and regardless of which list was used, considering the margin between the votes cast in favour of the winning candidate and Alhan, the result of the election would have turned out the same.

Alhan has decided to contest the Parliamentary Election for Feydhoo constituency as an independent candidate.

Alhan came third in the MDP Primary for Feydhoo, and while his case requesting to annul the Primary was in progress in Civil Court, he also filed a case to High Court requesting a stay order on Nihad’s candidacy, which was denied by High Court.