Majlis passes constitutional amendment to extend councilors' terms

The People’s Majlis has passed the fifth amendment to the Maldivian Constitution, proposed to extend the councilors terms.

While 66 votes were required, 74 lawmakers unanimously voted to pass the amendment during a special sitting that took place at 1:30am on Tuesday.

Following the declaration of a nationwide State of Public Health Emergency on March 12 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Elections Commission of the Maldives delayed the Local Council Elections indefinitely.

The elections were initially slated for April 4, however, it has been extended thrice since and the last one will expire on June 29.

The current councilors’ terms will end on June 3 and the amendment was required to be passed by then.

Sponsored by Bilehdhoo constituency MP Ahmed Haleem, the motion seeks to extend the terms of existing councilors until the local council elections can be held.

In accordance with Article 231 (c) of the constitution which states that the “terms of councils elected to administer the constituencies shall not exceed three years”, the terms of councilors can only be extended after amending the constitution.

When the People’s Majlis began debating regarding the amendment, there was a difference of opinion between parliamentarians which led to the parliament seeking the Supreme Court’s counsel regarding the matter.

On Friday the top court advised to amend the constitution by adding a transitional article instead of amending article 4, as the bill had initially proposed.

In a special sitting on Friday night, the Whole House Sub Committee of the Majlis passed a motion to amend Article 231 of the Constitution, as per the Supreme Court’s advisory.

A motion proposing to add two clauses to the article, presented by Central-Henveiru constituency MP Ali Azim was passed by the committee with 63 votes.

The first clause stated that elected councilors will retain seats in the event that their term expires before elections are held and until a new council takes oath and the second clause states that the councilors are to carry out duties under a transitional act passed by the People’s Majlis. This 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.

Article 231 (c) states that “the term of councils elected to administer the constituencies shall not exceed three years”. With this being said, parliament passed to extend councilors’ terms from three to five years last December. This extension does not apply to the existing councilors as they were elected before the amendment.