Pres. Muizzu redraws electoral map, Hirimaradhoo residents assigned to Hanimaadhoo

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has officially designated the residents of Hirimaradhoo island of Haa Dhaal atoll as citizens of Hanimaadhoo island, despite the fact that they continue to reside in Hirimaradhoo.

As a result, Hirimaradhoo residents will now be required to vote for Hanimaadhoo candidates in the upcoming Local Council and Women’s Development Committee (WDC) elections.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the President’s Office announced that the president has decided to relocate the residents of Hirimaradhoo to Hanimaadhoo, an island within the same atoll, and has amended Presidential Decree No. 2/2025 on the designation of inhabited islands in the Maldives.

The decision was made because the dates for the Local Council and WDC elections, scheduled for 4 April 2026, as announced by the Elections Commission of Maldives, fall within the period during which the government is in the process of relocating Hirimaradhoo residents to Hanimaadhoo.

According to Article 8(j) of the General Elections Act, when the Elections Commission prepares the registry of eligible voters, if the government designates an inhabited island as uninhabited and relocates its residents to another island, the

Elections Commission must consider the electoral constituency of those residents to be the island to which they have been newly relocated. Based on this provision, the President’s Office stated that Hanimaadhoo has been designated as the electoral constituency for Hirimaradhoo residents.

Despite this statement from the President’s Office, the Elections Commission’s permanent report on the Local Council and WDC elections had previously designated Hirimaradhoo as a separate electoral constituency.

With the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 36/2025 on Tuesday, President Muizzu, exercising his authority under Section 134(a) of the Decentralization Act, decided that once the residents of Hirimaradhoo are settled and registered in Hanimaadhoo, Hirimaradhoo will be declared uninhabited.

Consequently, Hirimaradhoo has been removed from the list of inhabited islands in the Maldives included in Presidential Decree No. 2/2025, and the updated list has been attached as an appendix to the decree, according to the President’s Office.

While arrangements have been made for Hirimaradhoo residents to vote in Hanimaadhoo, the President’s Office stated that this decision will take effect from the date on which the government publicly announces the completion of the resettlement and registration of Hirimaradhoo residents in Hanimaadhoo.

However, the President’s Office has not disclosed when the resettlement of Hirimaradhoo residents in Hanimaadhoo will begin, nor when the process is expected to be completed.