PNC Rejects MDP’s Emergency Motion on Capital Power Outage Yesterday
South Hulhumale’ MP Dr Ahmed Shamheed speaks during the first sitting of the second session of 2025. | Photo credit: People’s Majlis
The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) voted down an emergency motion submitted by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) regarding the massive power outage that affected the Greater Malé region yesterday.
The motion, submitted by South Hulhumalé MP Dr Ahmed Shamheed, sought to draw the government’s attention to the damage caused to individuals and businesses during the blackout, which lasted nearly six hours. Power went out across Malé City, Hulhumalé and Hulhulé at around 12:30 am on Sunday, impacting tens of thousands of residents in the densely populated capital. Full electricity supply was restored by approximately 6:30 am.
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The Parliament, which reconvened this morning for its second session of the year after recess, rejected the motion by 43 votes to 9, with the PNC using its supermajority to block the proposal.
In his remarks, Shamheed described electricity as a basic right guaranteed by law and said the outage had significantly disrupted daily life, commercial activity, and health services. “The power going out from all places at once is something that has never happened before. The power going out in such a densely populated area is a very difficult situation for the people,” he said during the session.
He also raised concerns about the possible harm to patients and medical equipment in hospitals due to the blackout, in addition to the inconvenience caused to travellers at Velana International Airport in Hulhulé.
Authorities have yet to announce the specific cause of the unusual total blackout, which is currently under investigation by the State Electric Company (STELCO) and the Maldives Police Service.
