Parliament election: 381 candidates for 93 constituencies

Elections Commission (EC) states they received candidacy forms from 381 individuals at the expiration of the deadline to file candidacy for the upcoming parliamentary election.

EC opened candidacy for the parliamentary election on January 30^th. The deadline to file the candidacy expired at 2:00pm today. The commission has received candidacy forms from 381 individuals at the expiration of the deadline.

Lawmakers will be elected for 93 constituencies in this year’s parliamentary election – marking six additional constituencies compared to the ongoing 19^th parliamentary assembly.

The constitution currently stipulates that there must be a parliamentary representative for every 5,000 citizens. Thereby, as the population increases, the number of members also increases accordingly.

The highest number of candidates contesting in this year’s parliamentary election are representing ruling PPM-PNC coalition and main opposition MDP. In this regard, PPM-PNC coalition is contesting for all constituencies except for three while MDP is contesting for all constituencies except for four.

Jumhoory Party, with the next highest number of candidates, is contesting for 10 constituencies.

EC slated the parliamentary election for March 17^th. However, an amendment to the law was submitted to the parliament following the announcement of the election date, which seeks to hold the election after the 10 days following the end of Ramadan. If the amendment is approved, the election will be delayed.