The Elections Commission issues the permit to the newly formed 'The Democrats' which would allow it to accept membership applications before registering as a political party.
The Commission confirmed via Twitter today that it had issued the permit to form the party and that the permit was in the name of Hassan Latheef, who was the former Chairperson of the ruling MDP.
Latheef along with several MDP high-ranking politicians resigned from the party last week and moved to form the new party.
While the politicians include 13 parliamentarians, they are all from the MDP faction formed by the Party President and Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed. Nasheed moved to form his own faction within the party after losing the party's Presidential primary to President Ibrahim Mohmed Solih.
The Democrats said today that it would begin accepting membership forms today and that they plan to submit the forms for party registration as soon as they receive 3,000 forms.
The party said that membership forms are being accepted at several locations in Male' today and that they include the Artifical beach, Bondibai park, Rasfannu beach and Hulhumale' ferry terminal.
