Addu City jurisdiction referendum to be held in October

The cabinet yesterday approved to hold a referendum on forming separate councils in Addu in October. 

The referendum seeks to gauge public opinion on whether to leave the Addu City Council as is, or to create separate councils for three islands of Addu. 

The referendum will decide whether individual councils should be formed for Addu Feydhoo, Addu Hulhudhoo and Addu Meedhoo. Voters will also detemine whether Addu Hulhudhoo and Addu Meedhoo should be jointly governed under a single body - the Addu Hulhumeedhoo Council. 

The President's Office said that the decision to hold the referendum had been made in response to a petition from some residents of Addu requesting changes to the composition of the Addu City Council. 

All registered voters in Addu will be eligible to vote in the referendum. The referendum is tentatively scheduled for October 24 or 25. 

Even if this referendum leads to changes in the council compilation, the remaining islands of Addu will be governed under the existing City Council. 

The cabinet also decided to send a ministerial team led by the Ministry of Cities, Local Government and Public Works and form a technical team of Addu City experts to assess the impact of proposed jurisdictional changes. 

This will be the first referendum held under the recently ratified Public Referendum Act. 

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu initially announced this referendum on September 17 on the president's podcast.

The President said then that the views of Addu residents need to be sought ahead of the Elections Commission conducting administrative work for the Local Council Elections scheduled for next year. He asserted that the decision lies in the hands of the people of Addu, assuring no action will be taken without first gathering their views.