The People's Majilis has passed the Bill on the Amendment to the Local Council Elections Act.

The bill, sponsored by MP for Addoo Meedhoo, Rozaina Adam was approved with the votes of 58 members.

The new amendment seeks to revise article 18 of the Local Council Elections Act so that if a voter has tick marked against the names of more candidates than required for the specific council, then only the "extra" votes will be considered invalid. However, if a voter has marked against the names of fewer candidates than required for the specific council, then those votes will be considered valid.

The Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has previously confirmed that the upcoming elections will feature two single large ballot papers; one for the local councils and the other for women’s development committees. The former ballot paper will include separate sections for the categories of city council mayor, city councillors, the constituencies with city council seats reserved for women in addition to island councillors, and the constituencies with island council seats reserved for women.

Thus, the amendment seeks to revise the legislation and ensure that votes for candidates contesting for more than one position do not have the other votes they received considered invalid. Further, MP Rozaina stated that as per the current legislation, votes given to candidates in other categories will be invalidated as well because the entire ballot pap is considered void.

Article 18 of the Local Council Elections Act currently states that, in addition to the points described in article 56(a) of the General Act on Elections, the entire ballot paper is considered invalid if the voter places tick marks against the names of candidates more than required for the specific council.

The upcoming local council and women's development committee elections are slated for April 4th.