Supreme Court to hear case on referendum stay on Thursday

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case on Thursday seeking a stay on the referendum related to shortening the current parliamentary term and holding presidential and parliamentary elections on the same date.

The referendum is scheduled to take place on the 4th of next month, alongside council elections.

The question to be presented in the referendum asks whether the President should approve the 8th Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed by Parliament to align the presidential and parliamentary elections and to define provisions related to the parliamentary term.

A petition was filed at the Supreme Court by Ahmed Aik Esa and Ibrahim Shiyam, members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) legal team, seeking to declare the referendum question unconstitutional.

The court has scheduled the hearing for 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.

According to the petition, the referendum question should ask whether the public agrees to the constitutional amendment and whether the amendment should take effect.

The petition states that the decree issued by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu and the announcement by the Elections Commission do not include this aspect in the question.

It also argues that the 8th Amendment Bill contains matters outside the scope of Article 262 of the Constitution.

In a separate filing, lawyer and former Member of Parliament Ali Hussain has submitted a petition seeking to invalidate the bill, stating that the deadline for ratification has expired.

The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will accept this separate case.