President ratifies two amendments to the Presidential Elections Act
The amendments were approved on July 4
President Abdulla Yameen speaking at a campaign event
President Abdulla Yameen has on Monday ratified two amendments to the Presidential Elections Act that were passed by the People’s Majlis on 4th July.
The amendments were made to Articles 7 (b) and 9 (b) of the Presidential Elections Act.
Article 7 (b) states that the individual, proposed by the person standing for the presidential elections, as the person who will serve with him as his vice president should also satisfy the qualifications criteria set forth in subsection (a), which states that the persons standing for the presidential elections should satisfy the qualifications criteria for president as provided in section 109 of the constitution of Maldives, which is the qualifications of a person elected as a President.
While the Constitution already states that a presidential candidate must be “a Maldivian citizen born to parents who are Maldivian citizens”, the recently approved and ratified amendment states that an individual that has held citizenship of a foreign country will only be able to contest in a presidential election “10 years after renouncing foreign citizenship”.
Article 9 (b) states that the amount to be deposited by persons standing for presidential elections is MVR 40,000 (forty thousand). However, as per the amendment, the administrative fee of application for presidential candidature is now MVR 100,000 (one hundred thousand).
The amendments passed last week were proposed by the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives. They have been described as a ploy for incumbent President Abdulla Yameen to tighten his grip on power, especially given the fact that they were proposed and approved less than three months prior to the presidential elections.
