Sinan Withdraws from North Hithadhoo By-Election, Supports Ahmed Saeed

Former MP for the North Hithadhoo constituency Mohamed Sinan, who won the PNC primary for the Addu Hithadhoo North by-election last Saturday, has decided to relinquish the ticket and support Ahmed Saeed (Soda), who also contested the primary.

In a post on social media, Sinan said he consulted a number of people in the constituency over the past three days following the primary.

According to Sinan, those discussions indicated that the strongest path to securing victory in the North Hithadhoo seat would be for him to step aside and allow a new individual to contest.

“Despite this decision, I assure you of my full participation and that I will play an extensive role in electing the candidate nominated by the party to win this seat. I have already communicated this decision to the party’s beloved President and the Leadership, who have accepted it with respect,” he said in a post on X.

Ahmed Saeed, commonly known as Soda, currently serves as councillor for the Hithadhoo Moolekede constituency.

The parliament seat for the North Hithadhoo constituency became vacant due to a case where Sinan, who was an active parliamentarian at the time, failed to pay funds in accordance with an October 2024 judgment ordering him to pay MVR 2.5 million for a loan taken from the Islamic Bank jointly with another individual. The Supreme Court ruled that Sinan had lost his seat on the 12th of this month.

The by-election for the parliamentary seat is scheduled for 6 June.

Earlier this week, the Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) extended the application deadline for the by-election until Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The previous deadline had been set for Wednesday. The commission did not provide a reason for the extension.

The by-election follows a Supreme Court ruling declaring the North Hithadhoo parliamentary seat vacant after the court found that Sinan had failed to settle a court-ordered debt, resulting in his disqualification from holding the seat.