The phrase "are allowed to contest" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing permissions or rights to challenge or dispute something, such as a decision or an outcome.
Example: "All candidates are allowed to contest the results of the election if they believe there has been an error."
Alternatives: "have the right to challenge" or "are permitted to dispute".
The official line from the government is that Laos is a one-party democracy -- only members of the Communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party are allowed to contest elections.
Candidates are allowed to contest elections in cases of fraud, bribes or, most pertinent to this case, if they can prove that enough legal votes were rejected to either change the outcome of the election or put it in doubt.
Our correspondent says that the campaign will be the first time that political parties are allowed to contest the vote in the tribal areas, a reform introduced by the outgoing government in a bid to fight militancy.
In three incarnations, his party has won every election it has been allowed to contest.
She brought her party into elections, even though she was allowed to contest only a fraction of the parliamentary seats.
"We should absolutely be allowed to contest what it means to be a Democrat," Mr. McElwee said in an interview.
Mr. Ai's wife, Lu Qing, said he would post a guarantee of half the tax bill to be allowed to contest the order to pay it.
In the June 1989 vote, Solidarity won overwhelmingly in the districts it was allowed to contest and, after parliamentary maneuvering with minor parties, was able to form a government.
Free and fair elections under the supervision of international monitors must be held before the end of the year, and Nasheed must be allowed to contest those elections.
Candidates in December's local elections will be allowed to contest the seats only as independents, not on a party basis.
Mainstream Islamist parties have consistently polled poorly in all general elections that major secular parties have been allowed to contest unmolested.
