Majlis to vote on constitutional amendment to extend councillors' terms, tonight

A special sitting of the People’s Majlis is scheduled for 1:30am on Tuesday, where the members are to vote on the fifth amendment to the Maldivian Constitution.

The government had proposed an amendment to extend the councillors’ terms due to the Local Council Elections being delayed indefinitely amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, to avoid a legal vacuum, as the existing councillors’ terms will expire on June 3. However, following differences of opinion between MPs over the amendment, the parliament chose to seek the Supreme Court’s counsel on the matter.

The top court on Friday advised to amend the constitution by adding a transitional article to Constitution, instead of amending article 4 as proposed by the state.

Following this, a special sitting was held on Friday night where the parliament’s Whole House Sub Committee passed a motion to amend Article 231 of the Constitution, as per the Supreme Court’s advisory ruling.

The motion by Central-Henveiru constituency MP Ali Azim proposes to add two clauses to the article, and was passed by the Whole House Sub Committee with the votes of 63 MPs,

While the first clause states that the elected councillors will retain seats in the event that their term expires before elections are held and until a new council is sworn in, the second article states that the councilors are to carry out their duties under a transitional act passed by the parliament. The act cited in the second clause is the “The Special Bill on Ensuring the Operation of Administrative Divisions of Maldives under Decentralization Policy 2020”, submitted by West Henveiru MP Hassan Latheef. Votes will be taken on both bills, at tonight’s special sitting, after debate on the Whole House Sub Committee report.

While Article 231 (c) states that ‘the term of councils elected to administer the constituencies shall not exceed three years’, the parliament last December passed to extend councillors’ terms from three to five years. However, this extension does not apply to the existing councillors as they had been elected prior to the amendment.

While 66 votes are required to pass the amendment, main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) -which has 65 parliamentarians- has passed a three-line whip to vote in favour of the amendment bill.

The Local Council Elections scheduled for April 4 was delayed indefinitely after the country declared a state of public health emergency on March 12. This has been extended thrice now, and the last extension will remain until June 29.