The Jumhooree Party (JP) has decided to field its own candidate for the upcoming presidential election, according to a resolution passed by its council on Tuesday.
The meeting, held at the party’s headquarters in the capital Male, saw only one dissenting vote from Ahmed Sameer, who serves as a minister in the President’s Office.
While JP leader Qasim Ibrahim is the likely candidate, the party will finalize its decision after accepting applications for the party ticket at a later date that has not yet been disclosed. Earlier, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had invited Gasim to form an alliance with him for the election, extending the invitation to other coalition partners as well. So far, only the Adhaalath Party has announced its decision to support President Solih.
Qasim has contested the presidential elections twice before, in 2008 and 2013, but failed to make it to the runoff on both occasions. He was unable to contest in the 2018 election due to a jail sentence at the time.
