Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath announced, on Wednesday, that the state will soon submit and amendment to the Parliament to tackle the legal challenges in holding the 2020 local council election, delayed multiple times due to the public health emergency extended over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The special sunset bill passed by the Parliament on May 10, 2020 regarding the local council elections state that the elections can be held only after the state of public health emergency is lifted, but the bill also requires the election to be held within a year of its passing.
Due to this, the Elections Commission (EC) had initially planned to hold the elections in March 2021. However, EC is currently facing challenges to make the arrangements for the elections since relevant authorities have yet to nullify the public health emergency.
Main faction of the ruling coalition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is also discussing to hold an emergency Parliament sitting to tackle the delay in holding the local council elections, but they have yet to decide a date for the sitting.
Although EC first aimed to hold the elections on March 3, due to the extension of the public health emergency into 2021, the commission has now slated the elections for April 3.
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