MDP boycotts election advisory committee

The main opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has boycotted the election advisory committee saying the Elections Commission (EC) will not listen to the recommendations made by the committee to not hold the parliamentary elections during Ramadan.

The Parliament has passed a bill to prevent parliamentary elections from being held during Ramadan.

The MDP alleges that the government wants to delay the bill without ratifying it. The President also said he wanted to hold elections during Ramadan.

Election Commission Chairman Fuad Thaufeeg said it is not a characteristic of democracy to change the dates of elections after they are announced.

He also spoke somewhat about the reason for the decision to hold the election on March 17. He said: 

"None of us wanted to hold the elections during Ramadan. Then we tried to postpone the elections after Ramadan. But that was not possible because the academic calendar coincides with school examinations," he said. The election would not be easy to hold during that time, he had said before as well.

He said he had discussed with the Independent Institutions Committee to hold the election before Ramadan because of all the challenges. That, he said, was before the currently scheduled date.

"When I spoke about holding it [the election] early in parliament in the very beginning, they said, 'Why should we bring forward the election because it is Ramadan? During Ramadan, we go to the office, teach, fish and farm; do all work whilst fasting’”, the Independent Institutions Committee had said and refused to amend the law, according to Fuad.

After consulting with the parties, they too refused to change the law because of Ramadan, he said. So he said the commission finally decided to hold the election during Ramadan.

Responding to Fuad's remarks, MDP Deputy Chairman Ibrahim Waheed said in a post on X that all parties and institutions that participated in the National Advisory Committee meeting were advised to hold the elections after Ramadan.

“The EC decided to hold the elections during Ramadan because President Muizzu wanted so against the advice of the institutions. After the meeting, the EC did not listen to the advice of the National Advisory Committee members,” he said.

The Civil Service Commission has also requested that the parliamentary elections not be held during Ramadan. However, the Election Commission's remains determined to hold the elections on March 17 without postponing it.