The 20th Committee on Independent Institutions of the Maldives’ parliament have decided to deliberate with political parties to bring forth opinions on the constitutional amendment bill proposed to the Parliament to align the terms of the Parliament such that the presidential and parliamentary elections can be held simultaneously.
Through the bill submitted on behalf of the government on the sixth January by Member of Parliament Ibrahim Falah, the government aims to hold both elections together to increase voter turnout and reduce election costs.
The Independent Institutions Committee held a meeting today regarding this bill. Speaking during the meeting, Parliament Member for Baarah Constituency, Ibrahim Shujau said that it is important to get the opinion of political parties regarding the bill.
The member also said it is important to discuss the legal considerations for the bill, and the Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has this mandate. In addition to political parties, ECM, Member of parliament Shujau said he would like to deliberate this with representatives from the Attorney General’s office in a meeting requested for Monday, second January.
Ibrahim Shujau’s proposal was unanimously agreed upon by the remaining members of the committee.
The chair of the committee, Maafushi Constituency’s Member of Parliament Hussain Riza Adam said that the committee has received a high number of responses from the public for the bill. And as such, at the meeting scheduled for next Monday, the committee will decide on the bill.
The proposed bill adjusts rules for calculating the term of Parliament. It states that the parliamentary term will be five years from 1 December, after which the Parliament will be dissolved.
With this change, the 20th Parliament’s term, currently set to expire in 2029, will be shortened to accommodate the combined elections, and will now expire 1 December 2028. Upon its dissolution, the first sitting of the succeeding Parliament must be held the same day.
The ECM has stated that they have put forth suggestions for merging both elections previously. By doing so it I believed to cut costs significantly and alleviate voter fatigue and streamline the elections processes in Maldives.