President ratifies bill to postpone Local Council Elections

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has ratified the special bill to delay the Local Council Elections and the Women’s Development Committee Elections, indefinitely.

On April 29, People’s Majlis passed the special motion, the Sunset Bill regarding the Local Council Elections, which stated that voting should be held by January 6, 2021.

The bill sought to delay the elections and allocate policies in regard to the elections, at a time the wide-spreading Covid-19 pandemic has provoked a State of National Health Emergency across the entire Maldives under the Public Health Act of the Maldives and immediate precautionary measures were called for.

According to the bill, the Local Council and WDC elections, which were originally scheduled to be held in April this year, will take place one year after the bill’s ratification.

Although the motion states that the latest date on which the elections may be held is January 6, 2021, the committee has amended the elections act mandating the Local Council Elections and Women’s Development Committee Elections to be held within a year after the amendments are implemented.

While a specific date to hold the elections has not been set under the amendment, the one-year period was given in order to vest the powers to allocate a date for the elections, to the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM).

The bill was initially submitted to the parliament floor by Thulhaadhoo MP Hisaan Hussain who also proposed the amendments based on the committee report.

It also addresses certain issues that had arisen due to the need to postpone the elections; it lifts the suspension on civil servants who had been contesting for the councils, and allows candidates who had already been selected to compete for local councils to put their names forward in the rescheduled elections.