Newly formed 'The Democrats' has applied for party registration at the Elections Commission.
This comes after the party was given the permit to find members by the Commission on the 24th of last month. The Democrats applied for the permit on the 21st of May.
Speaking at the Commission today, former Chairperson of MDP Hassan Latheef, under whose name the new party is registered under, said that the Democrats applied for registration with 3,560 forms.
He said that the target was to get 3,500 forms but decided to apply for registration with the 60 membership forms it received just today.
Latheef noted that the party received a huge welcome for its membership drive in Male' and major cities across the country. He said that the party has requested the Elections Commission to verify the membership forms at its earlier convenience and also allow the party to hold a gathering with 300 members as per stipulated in the law.
The former MDP Chairperson further said that once the party receives its registration, it would begin trips to the islands and also kick off its presidential campaign.
He added that there won't be any issues with the forms the party submitted today. He refused to answer questions on whether Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed's membership form was included in the bundle of membership forms that the Democrats submitted today.
The Democrats is the breakaway faction within the majority ruling party MDP. The faction was formed by MDP President Mohamed Nasheed after he lost the MDP Presidential primary to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih earlier this year.
Several high ranking politicians within MDP have resigned from the party and joined the Democrats but Nasheed remains with MDP yet.
