President's Office has proposed amendments to Presidential Elections Act, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Act, and Privileges and Protections for Former Presidents Act.
President's Office said the proposed amendments have been submitted to the parliament in the spirit of fulfilling the pledges of the administration to review all legislation to remove any provisions which were crafted to either unduly advantage or punish a particular person.
Concerning the Privileges and Provisions for Former Presidents Act, the President's Office said the provisions regarding stripping a former president or the first spouse of their privileges and protections should they have been convicted of a crime committed during the respective president's official term, have been amended. Henceforth the provision cannot be applied retroactively and applies to presidents who are convicted of a criminal offence only after the legislation was enacted.
Meanwhile, under the proposed amendment to the Presidential Elections Act, the provision barring candidates from contesting should they have sought protection from a foreign government or attained foreign citizenship less than a period of 10 years prior from giving up asylum or foreign citizenship, will be removed entirely.
Furthermore, under the proposed revisions to the Freedom of Assembly act, several restrictions on peaceful gatherings that had been enacted under the previous administration will be removed.
These restrictions had previously given the government inordinate discretion in limiting public spaces for any political gathering, rally or march through a cumbersome process involving seeking permissions from Maldives Police Service and Ministry of Home Affairs and was a power often abused to limit any activity by the then opposition.