AFP, Malé

Seven lower-profile candidates registered yesterday to challenge Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at next month’s elections. The independent Elections Commission said a total of eight candidates, including 61-year-old Solih, have filed nominations for the September 9 poll. The Indian Ocean nation embraced multi-party democracy in 2008 after having a one-party since ending its status as a British protectorate in 1965. The jailed main opposition leader Abdulla Yameen was disqualified from election because of his criminal conviction for corruption while president between 2013 and 2018.