Parliament Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim said last night that it was not the intention of those who drafted the Maldives’ Constitution for Presidential and Parliamentary elections to be held at different times.
Nazim, who served on the special parliamentary committee that helped draft the 2008 Constitution, made the remarks at a PNC campaign event in Male' ahead of the upcoming local council elections.
He said the issue of when elections should be held had already been debated during the constitutional reform process.
“The debate on the order and timing of elections was held in parliament after the system of government was determined through a referendum vote,” Nazim said.
According to him, a motion had previously been submitted in parliament proposing that Presidential and Parliamentary elections be held together.
“So this is not a debate that has never been held. This is a debate that has already taken place and been concluded,” he said.
Nazim said that the time gap between the two elections emerged after the Constitution was adopted because several new institutions had to be established and laws drafted before Parliamentary elections could be held.
“The Presidential election was held in 2008, but the Parliamentary election was delayed until May 2009 because of the time required to enact the necessary laws and regulations,” he said.
He said the delay created the precedent of holding the two elections separately, but that was not the original intention of the Constitution’s drafters.
Responding to opposition criticism of the proposal to hold both elections on the same day, Nazim said similar systems exist in other countries.
He gave examples of Indonesia, which holds presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously, as well as Turkey and several Latin American countries.
Nazim also pointed to Seychelles, which previously held elections months apart but changed its system in 2020 to conduct both votes on the same day.
According to Nazim, holding both elections on the same day could increase voter participation, as presidential elections typically attract higher turnout.
He said the proposed change is being introduced in good faith and expressed confidence that the public would support it.
Voters will decide on the proposal through a referendum to be held alongside the local council elections scheduled for April 4.
