President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih's Maldivian Democratic Party is seeking at least 44 seats in the 87-member Parliament for a majority to pass legislation needed to implement pledges from last year's presidential campaign.
Former president Abdulla Yameen is accused of receiving $1 million of government money through a private company that is now being implicated in a corrupt deal to lease tropical islands for hotel development.
Around 240,000 Maldivians will head to the polls on Sunday to choose their president in the small Indian Ocean nation.
An emergency imposed after a court ordered the release of jailed politicians will be allowed to expire after allowing time for the government to investigate corruption allegations against the judges who issued the order.
The Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago, is in political turmoil after President Abdulla Yameen imposed a state of emergency and arrested top judges in what the UN has called an “all-out assault on democracy.”
The new ruling comes as President Abdulla Yameen moved to assert his power over judges, declaring a state of emergency and ordering security forces to raid the court compound where the justices were arrested.
Best known as an "A-list" holiday destination, the Maldives plunged into crisis after the Supreme Court quashed terrorism convictions against nine leading opposition figures, including the country's exiled, first democratically elected president.
The detention of Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another Supreme Court judge raises the stakes in a dramatic clash after President Yameen refused to comply with a court order to release nine political dissidents.
The surprise ruling clears the way for former president Mohamed Nasheed to return to his homeland and run for reelection against President Abdulla Yameen.
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