Former MDP Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail has said increasing the size of constituencies that elect members of parliament would help dismantle what he described as a “large market” for vote-buying.

Speaking at a campaign event in Male' last night, Fayyaz, who is contesting the MDP presidency said significant sums of money are spent to secure parliamentary seats, often through the buying and selling of votes.

The event was part of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s Chairman campaign, “Bodu Badhalu” (Big Change), which Fayyaz is backing.

“The responsibility of the people is not small. There are many who ask for money in exchange for their vote,” Fayyaz said.

“You cannot serve the people after getting elected through buying and selling votes.”

He added that candidates who spend heavily to win elections are often compelled to recover those costs.

“They spend millions to be elected. They have to recover this from somewhere,” he said. “They end up doing whatever the government in power wants. That has to stop.”

Fayyaz said the proposed reforms under the “Bodu Badhalu” campaign aim to address the issue by expanding constituency sizes.

“The biggest reason for vote-buying is that candidates can win seats with a small number of votes,” he said. “We propose increasing the population of constituencies, for example, by having entire atolls vote for a set number of members.”

Under such a system, he said, tens of thousands of votes would be needed to secure a seat, making vote-buying impractical.

“Even if they want to, they cannot buy 20,000 votes. That market will disappear,” he said.

Fayyaz added that the changes would ensure MPs are more accountable to the public and cannot act without broader consent.