Maldives: voters reject plan to merge polls

Voters in the Maldives have largely rejected by referendum the electoral reform proposed by President Mohamed Muizzu.

The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu.Keystone

Voters in the Maldives archipelago, in great financial difficulty, rejected on Saturday by referendum a project to merge the presidential and legislative ballots intended to make savings, the electoral commission announced on Sunday.

The text proposed by President Mohamed Muizzu was rejected by two thirds of the approximately 294,000 registered voters who spoke, or 68.7% of them, according to the results released by the commission.

The head of state also suffered a severe setback during the local elections held on the same day as the referendum.

His party, the People’s National Congress (PNC), ceded control of the two main parliamentary assemblies of the archipelago, those of the capital Malé and the Addu region (south), to its main rival, the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), according to the commission.

As a cost-saving measure, he wanted to shorten the mandate of the current parliament by five months and align the date of the next legislative election with that of the presidential election, scheduled for September 2028.

Despite the rebound in tourism after the Covid pandemic, the financial situation of the Maldives remains very fragile, victim of a serious shortage of foreign currencies.

In 2024, the archipelago of 380,000 inhabitants, known for its white sand beaches and luxury hotel complexes, refused a bailout plan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

His government has adopted austerity measures which have allowed it, until now, to avoid any payment default. (dal/aj/pa/emp/afp)