Committee Clears Bill to Merge Presidential and Parliamentary Elections

A parliamentary committee has approved the government-backed bill seeking to amend the Constitution to combine presidential and parliamentary elections and shorten the term of the current legislature.

The bill was passed without any change by the Independent Institutions Committee following a brief meeting lasting around five minutes today. The legislation was proposed by ruling party lawmaker Ibrahim Falah, a parliamentary group leader of the People’s National Congress (PNC).

advertisement

The move comes as the Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has said that constitutional changes would need to be ratified by 18 February at the latest if a public referendum on merging the two national elections is to be held alongside the upcoming local council elections. The government has stated its intention to hold the referendum concurrently with the council polls scheduled for 4 April.

Under the proposed amendment, future parliamentary elections would be held at the same time as presidential elections. The bill also seeks to change the date of the first sitting of a newly elected parliament to December, a shift that would effectively reduce the term of the current 20th Parliament by six months.

If enacted, the term of the 20th Parliament would expire on 1 December 2028. The bill stipulates that all administrative arrangements for the new parliament must be completed before that date.

A sitting of the People’s Majlis was initially scheduled for today but was later cancelled. Parliament is now expected to convene tomorrow, when the ruling PNC is anticipated to use its supermajority to pass the bill and approve holding a referendum on the constitutional changes alongside the April local council elections.