Amendment to law to hold by-elections twice a year

Government has proposed an amendment to the law to hold by-elections for local councils and women's development committees twice a year.

This amendment to the Local Council Act was proposed by ruling party People's National Congress MP for Isdhoo Ismail Shafeeu.

As the law stands now, a by-election has to be held within 60 days of a seat becoming vacant.

The government has now proposed to increase this duration to 183 days. If this amendment is passed, then by-elections will need to be held twice in a year.

The amendment says that the period between such by-elections must not exceed 183 days and not be less than 120 days.

Although this amendment has been proposed, the government has also proposed an amendment to the Decentralization Act that in some situations, the by-election should be held within 60 days as before.

This amendment says that if a council president or a mayor's position becomes vacant, a by-election has to be held within 14 days. If the position of Council's Deputy President or Deputy Mayor becomes vacant, a by-election has to held within 30 days. However, if the mayor or Council President's position remains unfilled when the Deputy President or Deputy Mayor's position becomes vacant, then the by-election must be held within 7 days.

If the vacancy of a member's seat prevents the legal quorum for meetings being reached, the amendment says a by-election must be held within 60 days.

With the Elections Commission having raised concerns about the need to hold multiple by-elections through out each year, the 19th Parliament, too, proposed an amendment to the law.

The government at the time proposed to hold by-elections once annually. Work on this did not proceed in parliament then.