Election Commission of the Maldives (ECM) has decided to make changes to the allocation of constituencies for next year's parliamentary election. ECM published the preliminary report on the designation of constituencies for the 2024 parliamentary election in September and has received 65 complaints regarding the report.
ECM has decided to make some changes to the report after evaluating the complaints and comments received on the allocation for the 2024 constituencies. As such, the commission stated that changes will be made to the constituencies in Male' City to equally distribute the populations. In addition, of the individuals registered in the Male' municipality register, everyone except the residents of Villimale' will be included in two Hulhumale' constituencies.
Other changes include separating Mundoo from Laamu Atoll Gan Constituency and including the island in Isdhoo Constituency. ECM will also be changing the population allocation of some constituencies in Gaafu Alifu Atoll and Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll. It will result in Villingili Constituency consisting only of the island of Villingili and Dhaandhoo Constituency consisting of Dhaandhoo, Nilandhoo, and Kondey. In addition, Gemanafushi Constituency will consist of Gemanafushi, Kanduhulhudhoo, and Dhevvadhoo while Kolamaafushi Constituency will consist of Kolamaafushi and Maamendhoo.
The report on the designation of constituencies for the 2024 parliamentary election was formulated in accordance with Article 72 of the Constitution of the Maldives and Article 9 and 10 of the Parliamentary Elections Act. The report shows that 93 seats have been allocated for the next parliamentary election, which is an increase of six seats in the current 87-seat parliament. ECM will publish the final report by the end of the month.
The allocation of seats is determined by two policies. The first policy mandates the election of members to represent either the initial 5,000 registered residents in a constituency or a constituency with less than 5,000 registered residents. The second policy requires the election of a member to represent any additional registered residents beyond the initial 5,000, provided that the remaining residents also reach the 5,000 registered residents' threshold.