EC faces pushback on Addu women’s seat allocation

Concerns have been raised in Addu City over the Elections Commission’s (EC) decision to retain the same constituencies for women’s reserved seats in the upcoming 4 April local council elections, despite legal changes requiring rotation.

Under the Decentralisation Act, 33 percent of council seats must be reserved for women. On Tuesday, the EC announced the constituencies designated for women’s seats in Addu. These remain the same two constituencies reserved for the 2021 council elections:

The decision has led to criticism that men from both constituencies will be unable to contest for a second consecutive term, and that women in other Hithadhoo constituencies are being denied the opportunity reserved under the law.

When the 19th Parliament amended Article 41(c) of the Decentralisation Act, it required:

Based on this, critics argue that the reserved seats should change this election cycle.

However, a further amendment passed by the 20th Parliament shifted the authority to the EC, stating:

“The constituencies from which female members shall be elected in the city council elections held under this Act shall be determined by the Elections Commission on a rotating basis on an equal basis for all constituencies in the city.”

Some lawyers interpret this to mean that a fresh rotation should occur, and that continuing with the same two Hithadhoo constituencies does not meet the requirement of equal allocation.

The PNC Steering Committee of Hithadhoo Central Constituency is preparing a petition requesting that the EC review its decision.

Hussain Rasheed, PNC Vice President for the constituency, told Atoll Times that signatures are being collected and the petition will be submitted next Tuesday.

“For the second time in a row, this decision has been made. This will disqualify the men in the two constituencies from contesting for 10 years. Our majority believe this should not be the case,” he said. He added that the law does not envisage reserving the same two constituencies for women over two election cycles.

PNC MP Ahmed Azaan Marzooq and another individual have also written to the EC requesting a review. Copies of both letters have been obtained by Atoll Times.

Asked about the allocation, EC Secretary General Abdulla Unais said the amendment requires the EC to formulate rules for determining women’s seats.

“The special seat for women has been allocated by randomly drawing special applications from a meeting of the commission under the gazetted rules,” he said.

However, further questions on how the randomisation was conducted, and how the allocation meets the principle of equal rotation, went unanswered. EC spokesperson Salah Rasheed was also unavailable.

Addu will elect 11 councillors. Seven seats are reserved for women, including:

These latter two constituencies did not have reserved women’s seats in the previous term, leading petitioners to argue that Hithadhoo should receive similar rotation.