Government impartial on Addu council referendum: President

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has declared that the government will remain impartial on the upcoming referendum on forming separate councils in Addu.

A decision was made in yesterday's cabinet meeting to hold a public referendum amongst residents of Hulhudhoo, Meedhoo and Feydhoo in Addu City to gauge their views on whether to leave the Addu City Council as is, or to create separate councils for these 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 referendum is tentatively scheduled for October 24 or 25.

In a post on X, the President announced last night that the government will remain impartial in regards to this referendum. 

He stated that the government has no preferred outcome for the referendum, and asserted that it will implement whichever decision is reached through a majority vote. 

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. 

The cabinet also decided yesterday 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. 

The President 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.